A drone, 7 GoPro cameras, 2 Wi-Fi GoPro set off remotes, a Canon DSLR, a number of digital camera lenses, 7 heavy obligation tripods, eight reminiscence playing cards, eight walkie-talkies, 7 excessive capability energy banks, a anemometer, numerous charging and information switch cables, an optically stabilizing binocular, a 4TB exterior onerous drive, all packed in two black navy grade pelican circumstances. I nonetheless keep in mind the glances that I bought from individuals on the airports whereas bringing all my analysis gear from the USA to India in the summertime of 2017. I regarded like a person on a mission… an important mission. It was close to sure that I might be pulled out on the safety examine at each airport. I had my elevator pitch prepared on how all these devices had been to assist me unravel the mysteries of the flying dragon!
I used to be touring to the Agumbe Rainforest Analysis Station (ARRS); nestled within the Western Ghats of Karnataka, the Agumbe rainforest is residence to one in all many species of gliding lizards belonging to the genus Draco present in Asia. Famously known as the flying dragons of the animal kingdom, these magnificent, but cryptic creatures aren’t your standard gliders. Measuring roughly a palm size, they launch from treetops and unfold their wing like Batman’s cape. As soon as airborne, they deftly manoeuvre the jungle maze, actively controlling their aerial descent and overlaying distances over 100 occasions their physique size in lower than just a few seconds. When it is time to land, they reorient themselves like a parachute deploying from a fighter jet, slowing down and touchdown on their supposed goal tree.
My purpose was to know the thriller behind their easy and well-choreographed gliding behaviour, and the devices had been the important thing to unlock this thriller.
So, what was my sport plan? My workforce and I might arrange a makeshift flight area cordoning off two timber within the jungle. One could be the takeoff tree and the opposite, the touchdown tree. Lizards could be caught and launched on the takeoff tree. The 7 GoPro cameras — 5 mounted on tripods and one every on the takeoff and touchdown timber — would concurrently report a glide from completely different angles. Every digital camera was related to an influence financial institution in order that it could possibly be constantly charged for prolonged bouts of recording. The walkie-talkies had been held on the tripod into which I might communicate and report audio notes (ambient temperature, wind velocity, animal behaviour), and in addition use the audio to sync frames throughout all cameras. The Wi-Fi distant would set off begin/ cease recording for all of the cameras. The cables had been the underlying community connecting every little thing collectively. All these devices needed to work in unison for the publish recording computer-vision wizardry to work and sew all of the views collectively and produce three-dimensional place information. This is able to kind the idea of all my evaluation.
Did it work? As is the case with most issues in life, some improvisation (‘jugaad’) was required. The primary ‘jugaad’ got here with the GoPro cameras. Being motion cameras, GoPros are ultra-portable and rugged, able to dealing with excessive (form of) circumstances. Or not less than that is what I believed. Within the sizzling and humid tropical climate, when temperatures reached near 35C, a number of of the cameras would invariably overheat and mechanically swap off. Dropping any of the cameras was like dropping a bit of a jigsaw puzzle — with out it, the image could be incomplete. This was certain to occur, and a repair was important. We sourced plastic plates from the close by city as private umbrellas for every digital camera. This didn’t assist. We painted the plates white to replicate daylight higher. This didn’t work both. Time was operating out, particularly provided that I had only a month earlier than the monsoon hit and the lizards’ exercise dropped drastically.
Utilizing plastic plates to maintain the warmth of the GoPros
Picture Credit score: Pranav Khandelwal
Enter Shankar CM, the station manager-cum-electronics wizard. Inside just a few hours of reconsidering our choices, we determined to construct private cooling rigs for every digital camera. Because of Shankar’s ingenuity, we sourced supplies from the close by city and laptop followers from Bangalore. However the logistics posed one other dilemma. There isn’t a supply service and Agumbe is past Amazon and Flipkart. So Shankar got here up with one other native resolution. The conductor of a state bus on the Bangalore-Agumbe route delivered the followers for us from an area store in Bangalore. Shankar spent just a few days making personalized circuits to energy the followers utilizing the facility bricks. Lo and behold, every digital camera had a private cooling system with a security web round it to stop any hurt to the lizard from the spinning blades. The facility financial institution would now cost the digital camera and run the fan. We did a take a look at run and the cameras might now run for greater than four hours with out powering off.
The second ‘jugaad’ – the dragon catcher. We needed to spot (utilizing binoculars) and catch lizards perched on tall areca palms in order that they may then be launched within the flight area for recording. The lizards had been usually excessive up within the timber and it was a wrestle operating round looking for one which was inside arm’s attain. Shankar’s intelligent creations got here to the rescue once more. Utilizing tripod poles and a steel tong, Shankar was capable of make an extended pole (6m) with a horseshoe formed wire connected to the tong at one finish which was wrapped with a thick tender padding and fabric hanging from it. A string related to the horseshoe formed wire hung on the different finish. When pulled, the string would shut the horseshoe, wrapping it across the tree trunk; this may power the lizard to climb downwards, and proper into our ready palms! This dragon catcher may appear rudimentary and should not immediately qualify as ‘tech’, however this contraption proved to be one of the vital helpful items of gadget within the forest to seize lizards for recording.
I can go on and on about using know-how – how the drone helped map the jungle panorama to measure the lizard territory, to using DSLR digital camera to seize qualitative behaviour information and all the beautiful footage of the work that you simply see right here. However none of this may have been attainable with out the group of like-minded, curious folks that helped me arrange and use the devices that enabled information assortment in ways in which weren’t attainable earlier than. I’ll most likely exit on a limb and say that it was these devices that allowed me to fulfill so many individuals, share my love for analysis, and kind a group which I now name the ‘Draco household’.
The ultimate cooling rig utilizing laptop followers
Picture Credit score: Pranav Khandelwal
Pranav Khandelwal is an Indian researcher fascinated by the workings of the pure world round us. He research the underlying processes that allow animals to maneuver in complicated spatial environments and the way it may be utilized to real-world purposes. His analysis closely depends on utilizing consumer-grade know-how as a device to accumulate behavioural information in real-world settings.
Shankar CM makes a speciality of personalized options for Ecological analysis tools. He has labored in distant areas in India engaged on tasks associated to animal monitoring and conservation.
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