About

The Government of Canada’s Oceans Protection Plan aims to restore and monitor Canada’s marine wildlife including our threatened or endangered whale species. Funded by Kenneth M. Molson foundation we proposed the Gesundheit project to develop a minimally invasive aerial autonomous drone. The Gesundheit drone will safely collect biological samples from whales blows—the excrement ejected as the whale surfaces and exhales. Since a blow sample is analogous to a human throat/nasal swab, samples provide a wealth of information regarding a whale’s health, hormones, sex, and microorganisms. The long-term outcome of the project will help scientists monitor the health of our endangered whale populations.

We received additional funding from the Kenneth M. Molson foundation to support a 4th year capstone project—Whale Achoo. The project is to upgrade and further develop Whale Achoo our whale blow simulator. Additionally, the project will perform measurements with a commercial drone to improve the Gesundheit drone.