In Search for the Rarest Plant: Art, Drones, and AI

This paper proposes an experimental synthesis between art, technology, and conservation to search for one of the rarest cycad species in the world: the Encephalartos woodii, a cycad believed to be extinct in the wild. Only one specimen has ever been discovered. It has since been propagated in botanical gardens, and all existing specimens are male clones originating from this single plant. With the female specimen undiscovered, our project, AI in the Sky, partakes in the search for the female using drone technology and artificial intelligence (AI).