Promoting biodiversity in roadside vegetation

BioBots aims to leverage the unused potential of roadsides as biotope corridors and for biogas production. This effort seeks to enhance the contribution of green spaces to climate protection while alleviating the pressure to convert agriculturally used land, thereby addressing related conflicts of interest. A widespread implementation of this solution is expected to facilitate structured nationwide monitoring of the spread of invasive species in Germany.

The German road network offers around 51,000 hectares of roadside verges that are underutilised from an environmental and climate protection perspective. BioBots envisions transforming these roadside verges into ecologically valuable grasslands, which, despite being mandated in some federal states, is seldom realised due to workload constraints. The National Bioeconomy Strategy and the complementary National Biomass Strategy advocate for climate protection through sustainable biomass production and usage, such as utilising roadside cuttings for energy.

The project’s scientific and technical goal is to develop an autonomous robot to efficiently and ecologically manage and monitor roadside areas. This robot will feature a height-adjustable mower for insect-friendly cuts, a side mower for trimming around obstacles, and a seeding unit for distributing climate-resilient native species. It will employ AI-based image recognition to identify areas heavily infested with invasive species for targeted mowing and contribute to a positive propagation effect by establishing biotope corridors.