On a chilly Sunday morning, a group of UC Riverside Facilities Services employees gathered to watch a leaf blower fly over the campus. 

The leaf blower was attached to a large drone that took off from a nearby lawn and hovered over the Pierce Hall roof as part of a test in late April to see if the department can use drones to clean drains and gutters in hard-to-reach areas. 

Rooftops need annual cleaning to prevent drains from getting clogged with leaves and other debris, which can cause water to pool up and create roof leaks. 

Pierce, which has two rooftops at different heights, was selected to test the prototype technology.  

Tracy Stark, a safety engineer with Environmental Health and Safety, reached out to drone operators to explore the idea of attaching a leaf-blower to a drone. It was a unique approach aimed at getting to the hard-to-reach areas. 

“We’ve been working on a lot of different strategies,” she said. 

Douglas Thron, an experienced drone pilot who has used drones to shoot nature cinematography and rescue animals in natural disasters, was contracted to give it a shot. He devised a large drone that was 10-feet-wide from tip to tip and could lift 200 pounds. Thron then operated the drone for the test. 

The test showed that the drone could fly with a leaf blower, but its precision required further refinement before UCR would consider using it, Stark said. 

While the department was hopeful about the technology, it will not be pursued for now. Facilities Services will continue exploring ways to improve operations, she said.