Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by Thorkil Rothe
00:18 Maurice Fallon | Robotics researcher, University of Oxford
01:37 Maurice Fallon | Robotics researcher, University of Oxford

Script:

Dogs are known to love the forest and this one is on a mission to protect it from destructive forces, 

such as harmful commercial forestry and extreme weather events 

It helps researchers from the Oxford Robotics Institute gather important data

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 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAURICE FALLON, PROFESSOR OF ROBOTICS AT UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD AND RESEARCH LEAD ON DIGIFOREST PROJECT, SAYING:
    "With longitudinal measurements, so multiple measurements over different seasons, as trees grow, you can get a measure of the growth rate. And with the growth rate, you can detect where, maybe, a forest is struggling or where there might be trees that are dying. You can also use this kind of 3D model to project or plan interventions. So if you were to knock down certain trees to protect the rest of the forest from, say, strong wind damage or a forester actually planning which trees they want to knock down."

The robodog is part of a project that uses new technologies to help manage and protect forests

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 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAURICE FALLON, PROFESSOR OF ROBOTICS AT UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD AND RESEARCH LEAD ON DIGIFOREST PROJECT, SAYING:
 the sensors that we use are laser sensors, the same kind of sensor that's used in self-driving cars. So it measures distance out to each of the trees. And from that we can reconstruct basically the kind of cylinder shape of the trunks and measure their diameters and measure their heights and build up a basically a database of the contents of the forest."

With robots becoming more cabable of mastering rough terrain 

the people behind the project are now facing the next challange: convincing the forestry industry to embrace it

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 "Really, the challenge is to change the mindset of the forestry community, to adopt this technology. And there's still challenges, because it's expensive technology going around facilities that are remote,  in many cases. But that's the challenge."

However, with tests already completed in several countries 

this robot dog's mission to protect the forest is well underway.