Witnessing devastating wildfires near their Portuguese homes fueled a powerful drive in teenagers Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça. These young innovators, even while in school, were deeply affected by the recurring forest fires that scarred their landscapes. Their shared experience ignited a mission: to develop a solution for replanting inaccessible burnt slopes.
At just 19, they unveiled Trovador, a remarkable six-legged reforestation robot designed to navigate treacherous, burnt terrain like a spider. This compact machine carries saplings, offering a vital tool for regions in Portugal that have suffered extensive fire damage.
Portugal has long grappled with severe wildfires. A recent study highlighted that over 1.2 million acres, representing more than half the country’s territory, were consumed by fires between 1980 and 2023. The year 2017 was particularly catastrophic, with massive tree cover loss attributed to wildfires. The challenging topography of many burned areas, characterized by steep slopes, poses a significant obstacle for traditional manual planting efforts and heavy machinery, making recovery a slow and difficult process.
Bernardino and Mendonça recognized this crucial limitation. They explained that steep terrain effectively prevents safe access for both human planters and heavy equipment. With over 60 percent of Portugal’s forests situated on rugged inclines, conventional reforestation methods struggle to keep pace with the relentless cycle of fire and soil degradation.
The Trovador robot represents a groundbreaking approach. Their initial prototype, built in 2023 with recycled parts and a minimal budget, demonstrated impressive efficiency. It planted saplings 28 percent faster than human teams, achieving a remarkable 90 percent survival rate without any post-planting care. This success spurred the development of a more robust version capable of operating on inclines up to 45 degrees.
Trovador’s unique six-legged design distributes weight evenly, preventing soil compaction—a common issue with heavy machinery that hinders root development. Equipped with a depth-sensing camera and onboard AI, the robot analyzes soil conditions, including pH and moisture levels, before autonomously planting saplings. This meticulous approach ensures a high survival rate, estimated between 85-90 percent.
In contrast to drone seeding, which scatters seeds with low precision and often results in poor survival rates, Trovador plants rooted saplings individually in optimal micro-spots. This targeted method conserves precious resources and significantly enhances the likelihood of sapling survival. The robot can plant up to 200 saplings per hour and transmits crucial data like GPS coordinates and soil readings to the cloud for monitoring.
Their innovative project has garnered significant global attention. Bernardino and Mendonça were finalists in National Geographic’s 2024 Slingshot Challenge, securing a $10,000 grant, and later received a European sustainability award for robotics. While environmental experts acknowledge the robot’s potential, they emphasize the need for further testing on long-term performance, durability, and navigation in dense vegetation before widespread adoption. The creators plan to offer Trovador as a service, making reforestation more accessible and cost-effective for municipalities and organizations. Their ambitious goal is to deploy Trovador in large-scale restoration projects by 2026, aiming for reforestation that is fast, precise, and scalable.
