Elmcor (Dead)

Portfolio

Problem:

The world’s largest forestry companies manage millions of hectares of timber, broken into cut-blocks. To maximize efficiency and ensure sustainability, forestry companies need to collect data on the volume of timber as trees grow in the various cut-blocks. Traditionally, this is done by sending summer students into the forest with a tape measure to note the circumference of trees in a general area, followed by a rough estimate of how many trees are in that cut-block. This inventory method is extremely costly, inefficient & increases risks of on-the-job accidents.

Solution:

Michael and I set out to solve these inefficiencies and improve safety + compliance in the forestry industry using computer vision and UAVs. We built an MVP where we used LiDAR and optical imagery to collected by a UAV to quickly and efficiently survey cut-blocks.

Status:

Although there was initial product market fit, after several discussions with key partners, we decided to shut down and use this as a learning experience as the industry was not ready for this type of change yet.

What We Learnt:

1. Engage potential partners early on to ensure not only product market fit, but timing and market readiness