When birds started to become pests for farmers, they installed scarecrows to imitate humans and spook the wildlife into refraining from eating the crops.
Now, an airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, is drawing inspiration from those scarecrows and is set to deploy a small robotic dog camouflaged as a coyote or fox to scare wildlife away from its runways, Knewz.com has learned.
Anchorage Daily News reported the robodog, named Aurora, would “enhance & augment airport safety and operations.”
Aurora will imitate movements similar to predators in an effort to prevent birds and other wildlife from settling at the airport.
Alaska has a notable problem with wildlife creating aviation safety issues, and there were 92 animal strikes at airports across the state in 2023.
Animal strikes typically do not damage the aircraft, but they can occasionally lead to dangerous or deadly crashes.
The most famous such case in America was the “Miracle on the Hudson,” when pilots Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles guided U.S. Airways flight 1549 into an emergency landing on the Hudson River near midtown Manhattan in 2009. While the landing was hard and caused a few serious injuries, nobody died.
Aurora is also meant to help protect wildlife, especially waterfowl, which are common in the area and likely to die if they run into aircraft. The team hopes the robotic dog provides a non-lethal alternative to dispersing wildlife.
Aurora will patrol outdoor areas near the airport every hour. While it is targeting birds, the team is interested in seeing if it can dissuade big animals like moose from wandering near the airport.
Right now, workers have found that the best strategies for spooking wildlife are to direct loud sounds at them or shoot paintballs near their vicinity.
In the 1990s, authorities launched a more bizarre strategy of releasing pigs to eat the waterfowl eggs laid near the airport.
The robot is set to be deployed this coming fall when the migratory bird season starts. Aurora costs $70,000 and was financed by a $2 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While Aurora has no surveillance features, people on social media expressed outrage about the technology, which required the Alaska Department of Public Transportation to update its Instagram page with the comment, “She does not utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI), but she does have cutting-edge technology which helps her maneuver over all sorts of terrain.” It had received negative comments following its release of a video showcasing Aurora’s capabilities.
“Thanks, I hate it,” wrote one user, while another said, “Not gonna lie. Creepy.”
Another user jokingly asked where they could find the regulations for hunting this “new species.”
“[I am] very excited to start hunting robo wolves,” said the person.
On March 27, a U.S. Army Brigadier General said the military branch was working to integrate robot platoons into its force, possibly attaching upwards of 16 robotic platoons to 11 armored brigades.