E-FORESTER

Effective FOrest Research Electronic System Terrain Exploration Rover

Deploying autonomous robotics to protect Europe's biodiversity and uncover hidden cultural heritage.

Discover the Project
48months
Nov 2024 – Oct 2028
6partners
Cyprus, Italy, Poland
11work packages
19events held
to October 2026
2open-access publications
5 more under review

The Vision

The E-FORESTER project (Grant Agreement No. 101182985) represents a paradigm shift in environmental monitoring. Aligning with the European Green Deal and the Valletta Convention, we are bridging the gap between field biology, archaeology, and cutting-edge robotics.

Our mission is to construct an autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) capable of navigating complex, GPS-denied forest environments. Equipped with AI-driven edge computing and multimodal sensor arrays, the rover acts as a continuous, non-invasive observer of our natural and cultural landscapes.

E-FORESTER is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges project. Researchers, engineers and specialists from six organisations in Cyprus, Italy and Poland work together through secondments between universities and companies, combining forestry, botany, archaeology, geophysics, space engineering and machine learning.

ProgrammeHorizon Europe, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges (HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01)
Grant AgreementNo. 101182985
Duration1 November 2024 – 31 October 2028
CoordinatorSpace Systems Solutions (S3) Ltd, Nicosia, Cyprus
Illustration of the E-FORESTER rover in a forest

Monitoring Forest Biodiversity

Illustration of computer vision detecting signs of forest wildlife

Traditional biological inventory is labour-intensive and difficult to scale. E-FORESTER introduces a "human-in-the-loop" AI approach to ecological monitoring across temperate (Poland), alpine (Italy), and Mediterranean (Cyprus) ecosystems.

Tracking Fauna: Using high-resolution optical cameras and lightweight deep learning models, the rover identifies tracks, scat, and other signs of elusive medium-sized mammals (e.g., foxes, badgers) directly in the field.

Tick-Borne Disease Mapping: The rover features a robotic sampling module utilising the flagging/dragging method. Combined with real-time microclimate sensors, it maps tick abundance to create dynamic epidemiological risk models.

Tree-Related Microhabitats (TreMs): By fusing LiDAR point clouds with multispectral data, the rover assesses forest health and identifies crucial microhabitats, such as tree cavities and anthills, which serve as ecological hubs.

Uncovering Cultural Heritage

Forests often conceal centuries of human activity beneath their dense canopies, rendering traditional aerial and satellite prospection ineffective. E-FORESTER utilises a synergistic suite of geophysical tools to perform non-invasive subsurface mapping.

Geophysical Prospection: The rover payload incorporates Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR), Time-Domain Electromagnetics (TDEM), and Magnetometry to identify buried walls, hearths, and ditches. A compact TDEM sounder, derived from earlier space exploration studies, is being developed for use from a rover, a drone or by hand.

Plant Vitality as a Clue: Subsurface remains alter local soil moisture and chemistry. Using multispectral and thermal imaging, the rover detects "cropmarks" and subtle physiological stress in the forest undergrowth, using the plants themselves as indicators of buried archaeological relics.

Illustration of a forest floor cross-section revealing buried archaeological remains

Project Progress

The scientific groundwork on the forest environment and on cultural heritage is complete, and the requirements for the rover have been defined. The project is now in the system design phase, to be followed by the construction, testing and field campaign of the rover prototype.

WP1

Forest Environment Assessment

Lead: PULS

Completed
WP2

Cultural Heritage Resources in Forests

Lead: AMU

Completed
WP3

System Engineering Requirements

Lead: S3

Completed
WP4

System Design

Lead: UNIPD

In progress
WP8

Transfer of Knowledge, Training and Networking

Lead: CSEO

Ongoing
WP9

Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation

Lead: CSEO

Ongoing
WP10

Project Office

Lead: S3

Ongoing
WP11

Ethics Requirements

Lead: S3

Ongoing

Milestones

  1. Kick-off meeting, Nicosia, November 2024 Achieved
  2. Specification of instrument requirements Achieved
  3. Instrument design document In progress
  4. Construction of a rover prototype, 2027
  5. Rover validation, 2027

Training and Knowledge Exchange

Secondments are the engine of E-FORESTER. Scientists from the universities spend time at the technology companies to share their knowledge of forests, wildlife and archaeology, and engineers spend time at the universities to understand the realities of fieldwork. Every secondment is linked to the tasks and results of the project.

Four joint collocations bring the whole network together, each combining a summer school, a conference or seminar, workshops and field activities that are open to students, professionals and local communities.

  • 1st joint collocation Poznań, Poland, June 2025 Held
  • 2nd joint collocation Padua area, Italy, May 2026 Held
  • 3rd joint collocation Nicosia, Cyprus, 2027
  • 4th joint collocation Poland, 2028
  • Final conference Nicosia, Cyprus, 2028

News & Events

Upcoming

Past events

In the media

Publications

All peer-reviewed publications of the project are published in open access.

Five further papers have been submitted and are under peer review. They will be listed here, with links to their open-access versions, when published.

The Consortium

E-FORESTER is driven by a multidisciplinary team of foresters, archaeologists, engineers, and data scientists from across Europe.

Space Systems Solutions (S3) logo

Space Systems Solutions (S3) Ltd

Cyprus · Coordinator

Adam Mickiewicz University logo

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Poland

Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation logo

Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation

Cyprus

Poznań University of Life Sciences logo

Poznań University of Life Sciences

Poland

University of Padova logo

University of Padova

Italy

S2G Technologies logo

S2G Technologies S.R.L.

Italy

Contact

For information about the project, events and results, or to propose a collaboration, please write to the E-FORESTER team.

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