Five Irish students are developing an AI-driven rover to deliver a potential treatment for ash dieback, the deadly disease that is prevalent in ash trees throughout Europe.
The team have been working on a prototype model as part of Trinity College Dublin's LaunchBox programme which aims to accelerate student startups.
"Ninety per cent of the ash trees in Ireland are affected by ash dieback. It's not just an environmental problem, but a biological, social and economical problem," explained Abi O'Brien Murray, 20, a second-year Theoretical Physics student at TCD.
The ash dieback fungus originated in Asia and was first detected in Ireland in October 2012.
Signs of the disease are seen through withered and blighted leaves.
In many cases, it can be fatal.
Ms O'Brien Murray and her twin sister Erica began investigating ash dieback for a project for the 2024 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.
They were pupils at Loreto Secondary School, Balbriggan, at the time.
"Along with another pupil, Olivia O'Shea, we developed a treatment which we believe is up to 92% effective.
"It's a biostimulant which aids the tree's immune system to fight off the disease.
"We have patented it, but what we didn't realise at the time was that the application method is a big issue.
"Our new microinjection rover is our solution to applying a treatment to trees at scale."
The prototype AI rover was developed over six weeks at Dogpatch Labs in Dublin.
Three other students - Sinéad Ahern, Seán Allen and Amelia Moloney - make up the Lynra team.
"The rover uses AI to detect saplings in the area. It drives up to the sapling and detects the base.
"It then uses a stepper motor to swivel a plate, then a piston to inject the tree," said Ms Moloney, 21, who is studying Immersive Software Engineering at the University of Limerick.
"The AI takes out the cost of manually injecting the trees by hand. It's a positive use of AI," she added.
The students are continuing to develop the treatment and rover with a view to commercialising it.
"Within the next two years we would hope to see our rover fully operational, further advancing on the AI and the system controls.
"We are about to start our next trial study of the treatment, which will allow us to see how the trees are responding.
"It would mean the world to us to see something that we started at 17 go further, and for us to be able to save these trees across the world," said Ms O'Brien Murray.
