- Title: Meet Swagbot, the AI-powered robot cattle herder
- Date: 12th December 2024
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY PROFESSOR OF ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, SALAH SUKKARIEH, SAYING: "So the robots have sensors on them now, so vision sensors, laser sensors, and you can actually measure the properties of the animals motion, so it’s gait, so how it's actually moving and if you measure that information over a number of different days you star
- Embargoed: 26th December 2024 00:50
- Keywords: AI agriculture artificial intelligence cattle cow machine learning robot technology
- Location: ALLYNBROOK, AUSTRALIA
- City: ALLYNBROOK, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Information Technologies / Computer Sciences,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA004393401122024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: With four wheels and a bright red paint job, SwagBot is not your average cow.
Researchers at the University of Sydney hope this autonomous robot will become the world's first 'smart cow', able to make cattle farming more efficient and environmentally friendly.
First launched in 2016, what was initially a simple herding robot capable of traversing rugged terrain has been updated with sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems.
SwagBot can determine the health, type and density of pasture, and monitor the health of livestock. It uses this data to autonomously herd cattle to the best pastures and move them before land is overgrazed and soil becomes degraded.
"Once the cattle are used to the robot, they will follow the robot around," said University of Sydney professor of robotics and intelligent systems, Salah Sukkarieh, whose team made the SwagBot.
"You want to move the animals to the right part of the pasture where there is good protein, good carbs," he said. "You want to be able to do that in a very fluid manner without fences."
Australia is one of the world's biggest beef exporters, with around 30 million cattle spread across a vast landscape that is often dry and whose pastures can be poor.
Farmers constantly assess how many animals their land can support but many have little control over where the animals graze within large enclosed areas. Overgrazing can lead to poorer soils that support less plant and animal life.
"It (SwagBot) allows us to assess our paddocks in real time in a much more detailed way," said Erin O'Neill, a part time farmer who attended a recent demonstration of the robot on a farm three hours north of Sydney.
"That allows us to know what bits of pasture are most nutritious, particularly if you've got cattle like we do that are pregnant and therefore need a higher quality pasture to aid them through that pregnancy," she said.
Swagbot is part of a growing trend of robots being developed for the agriculture industry, as farmers look for innovative ways to meet this increasing demand for sustainable and efficient farming practices amid labour shortages and environmental concerns.
Sukkarieh believes that robotics and automation could be the solution to these challenges and is confident that the future will see robots on farms across the country.
(Production: Cordelia Hsu) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None