DigiForest: Digital Analytics and Robotics for Sustainable Forestry

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2604.14652v1
• Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 05:59:45 GMT
• Title: DigiForest: Digital Analytics and Robotics for Sustainable Forestry
• Abstract summary: forests are vital to global biodiversity, climate regulation, and human well-being.<n>Forestry sector is central to achieving EU's climate neutrality and biodiversity goals.<n>This chapter introduces DigiForest, a novel, large-scale precision forestry approach.
• Score: 41.67365318975988
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Covering one third of Earth's land surface, forests are vital to global biodiversity, climate regulation, and human well-being. In Europe, forests and woodlands reach approximately 40% of land area, and the forestry sector is central to achieving the EU's climate neutrality and biodiversity goals; these emphasize sustainable forest management, increased use of long-lived wood products, and resilient forest ecosystems. To meet these goals and properly address their inherent challenges, current practices require further innovation. This chapter introduces DigiForest, a novel, large-scale precision forestry approach leveraging digital technologies and autonomous robotics. DigiForest is structured around four main components: (1) autonomous, heterogeneous mobile robots (aerial, legged, and marsupial) for tree-level data collection; (2) automated extraction of tree traits to build forest inventories; (3) a Decision Support System (DSS) for forecasting forest growth and supporting decision-making; and (4) low-impact selective logging using purpose-built autonomous harvesters. These technologies have been extensively validated in real-world conditions in several locations, including forests in Finland, the UK, and Switzerland.

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