Project Hopper
Restoring the Everglades, one python at a time.
Our first field deployment — removing invasive Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades in partnership with the University of Florida.
The Challenge
One of North America's greatest ecological crises.
The Florida Everglades is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in North America — and one of the most threatened. Since their introduction in the 1980s, invasive Burmese pythons have spread across the Everglades, decimating native wildlife populations and fundamentally altering the ecosystem.
With an estimated 300,000+ pythons now established, traditional removal methods have proven insufficient. The snakes are cryptic, nocturnal, and nearly impossible to detect in dense sawgrass and subtropical vegetation. A new approach is needed.
300,000+
Invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades
95%
Decline in native marsh rabbit and fox populations
1980s
When pythons were first introduced to South Florida
1,000+
Square miles of Everglades habitat affected
The Rewyld Approach
AI robotic decoys. Smarter removal.
Project Hopper deploys Rewyld's HPRS platform — including AI-powered robotic prey decoys — to improve python detection and removal while generating valuable ecological data. The decoys mimic native marsh rabbits in movement, heat, scent, and appearance, triggering the python's hunting instinct and drawing them into range for trapper removal.
"The objective isn't simply removing snakes. The objective is restoring an ecosystem."
University of Florida Partnership
Science-backed. Field-tested.
Project Hopper is conducted in active partnership with researchers at the University of Florida's Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. UF researchers provide ecological expertise, field access, data analysis, and scientific validation — ensuring every deployment is grounded in rigorous conservation science.
Deployment Status
First deployment underway.
Project Hopper is currently in active field deployment in the Florida Everglades. Prototype robotic decoys are being tested alongside UF research teams, with ongoing data collection informing the next generation of HPRS hardware and AI models.
Ecological research, species behavior analysis, and initial decoy design completed with UF partners.
First-generation robotic decoy prototypes built and lab-tested for biomimetic movement, thermal signature, and durability.
Active field deployment in the Everglades. Decoys tested alongside UF trappers with real-time data collection.
Data-driven iteration on hardware and AI models, scaling deployment across a wider area of the Everglades.
Back the bunnies.
Save the Everglades.
100% of donations go directly to UF Fund 030161, advancing AI and robotics research, prototype development, field testing, and ecological monitoring.