XPRIZE Rainforest is a global five-year, $10 million competition that convenes innovators and experts across disciplines, and challenges them to use novel technologies to expedite the monitoring of tropical biodiversity.
Nearly 40 teams entered the competition in 2019 to develop technologies to rapidly and comprehensively survey rainforest biodiversity. The competition this year was narrowed down to six teams, who had the opportunity to travel to Manaus, Brazil. In Manaus, each team was tasked with surveying 100 hectares of rainforest in 24 hours and producing the most impactful real-time insights within 48 hours.
The team, ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ was one of six finalists. The team consists of experts, from Illinois Tech University, Purdue University, Natural State, and the Morton Arboretum.
Leading the charge was Illinois Tech Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Matthew Spenko. Spenko and Illinois Tech found their way into the XPRIZE competition by a matter of connection and happenstance. About a year before the contest started, Spenko and Dr. Chuck Cannon of the Morton Arboretum,were exploring ways to use technology to further study trees and the rainforest canopy. The XPRIZE competition presented an opportunity to further their work and the ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ team was established. Biologists and ecologists from biodiversity and sustainability coalition Natural State joined the team, and then Purdue additionally jumped in with geoinformatics, an information science format related to engineering.
Data collection and coding.Illinois Tech University
In addition to the industry partnerships, more than 120 Illinois Tech students were involved in the project. Spenko has conducted five classes to take on different parts of the project. Each course was featured as an available class to any major, taking on numerous cross-disciplinary aspects. With the help of aerospace and mechanical engineers, computer science majors, and even architecture and humanities students, Spenko’s classes were an opportunity to see engineering make an impact.
Illinois Tech traveled to Brazil with faculty and four undergraduate students, who were able to experience engineering in the field. The Illinois Tech team was focused on the data generation and analysis side. Bioacoustic and camera trap data were captured within the 24-hour data generation period. The team placed 11 sensors on top of the canopy using drones. The sensors have winches that deploy additional sensors under the canopy. Taking in all environmental DNA available, the team additionally captured water samples.
Bases of the 11 drones used.Illinois Tech University
Purdue’s engineers flew drones high above the canopy to capture multispectral data. Multispectral data is camera data at different spectrums like infrared. They also used collective lidar data, which assesses the volume of biomass emitted from the trees that sit in the forest. The data from the acoustic and camera feeds were assessed through AI models. Meanwhile, EDNA techniques, used to study biodiversity and monitor ecosystem change, were used to assess the DNA sampled from the area to see what kind of wildlife might be found in the rainforest area.
The final results and XPRIZE winner won’t be announced until later this year, but to Dr. Spenko and Illinois Tech, the experience itself is certainly not to be understated.
Spenko said, “This was a great opportunity to do great science and engineering for a great purpose. I hope these technologies, being those we built and used as a team and across the competition, are used for the future. XPRIZE allowed us to kickstart data collection for an area that really has not seen much exploration, and it is all extremely beneficial.”
