MARRS at Duke University

The Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab at Duke University is located in Beaufort North Carolina. The focus of the lab is to use drone technology for marine and terrestrial conservation and science. Salinda Bacheler is the lab’s Program Manager.

The lab uses Cheqroom to track their drones, but also the support equipment, technology, and computers that are associated with the fieldwork. Each drone has a specific set of accessories like sensors, batteries, and controllers.

A smarter solution for a growing inventory

“Before Cheqroom, we had one staff member – our lead engineer – attempting to keep track of our ever-growing list of equipment using Excel spreadsheets.”

“It was difficult to manage and to keep track of who was accountable for equipment. Sometimes gear would be double-booked or unavailable because we didn’t have a foolproof way to anticipate scheduling conflicts or plan for last-minute maintenance checks or repairs.”

“As our inventory was growing it had become essential for us to have a system that could keep all of that organized for us and allow us to easily see what equipment is going where and with whom.”

Better equipment scheduling and maintenance planning

Cheqroom has made a difference for Salinda and her colleagues in terms of equipment scheduling and accountability. “It has made a difference in our ability to plan for maintenance, anticipate scheduling bottlenecks and conflicts, and maintain accountability for our costly equipment.”

“It gives us a clear list of what equipment we have and it allows us to see what is going where, with whom, and for how long.”

“In our search for the right fit, we had originally been searching for inventory management systems, but those were nearly always far too complex or the wrong business model – we weren’t tracking inventory for sales, or from one supplier to another. We just needed a straightforward way to track where our equipment was going, who was responsible for it, and when it was coming back.”

Kits make our work a lot easier

“The Kitting feature is definitely our favorite feature in Cheqroom. The ability to create kits really helps to simplify the check-out process, since so many of our drone aircraft have specific gimbals, cameras, and sensors, along with other associated support equipment.“

Another feature Salinda finds particularly useful is the ATA carnet feature.“

When we travel internationally with field equipment, we must file and carry carnet documents for customs clearance. Cheqroom provides the framework for us to do that very easily.”Curious to know more about the work they do at the Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing lab and how drones can help study whales? Read the full interview with Salinda Bacheler here.