Drone harvesting refers to the use of autonomous or remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with purpose-built gripping, cutting, or payload-delivery mechanisms to perform selective tree harvesting or related wood extraction tasks, representing one of the more speculative but actively researched frontiers of forestry automation. Unlike the well-established use of drones for forest inventory, mapping, and surveillance, drone harvesting as an operational technology remains largely at the prototype and early research stage, with ongoing work exploring whether heavy-lift multi-rotor or hybrid fixed-wing platforms can develop the payload capacity, precision, and endurance needed to fell, extract, or process individual stems in environments where conventional ground-based machinery cannot operate safely or economically. The primary motivations driving research in this area include accessing steep, unstable, or ecologically sensitive terrain where cable logging is cost-prohibitive, reducing ground disturbance, and enabling selective harvesting at a spatial precision beyond what crewed machinery can achieve. Some research programmes — notably projects in Central European and Scandinavian forestry institutions — have investigated drone-slung log extraction, where a UAV lifts individual logs from steep terrain to a roadside landing, analogous to helicopter logging but at lower operational cost. In Australia, helicopter logging has historically been used in steep, wet-sclerophyll country in Victoria and Tasmania, and the potential for drone systems to provide a lower-cost, lower-risk alternative is of practical interest to the industry. Significant engineering challenges remain, including battery energy density limits for the payloads required, safe autonomous felling mechanics, and regulatory frameworks for beyond-visual-line-of-sight heavy-lift operations over forestry coupes. As UAV technology matures, hybrid approaches — where drones assist ground crews with high-risk stem removal or precision directional felling — are seen as a more near-term pathway to operational deployment.
| Field |
Value |
| Company |
AirForestry |
| Country |
Sweden |
| Type |
Company |
| Employees |
~20 |
| FWPA RD&E |
4.4 |