Use of AI enabled drones for animal husbandry

[A1|Droneimaging]

Hi,

We are at the technical scoping stage of designing a system that would use AI enabled drones to manage animal husbandry.

Briefly, the system will comprise of one or more drones (depending on herd size) that would be pre-programmed with the physical characteristics of the animal (species and breed), plus the geography of its pasture, allowing the drones to be launched automatically to gather health data about each animal.

Data gathered would include facial characteristics and size, temperature, and mass. Data would be fed back to a cloud based app that via machine learning, would be able to identify any animal falling below a baseline allowing early intervention.

The system would be flexible enough to assess any species and data captured could be varied by using different combinations of sensors.

The system could provide a complete health record of every animal from birth to slaughter, including ultimately intra and inter country movements.

We feel that the base specification we have in mind could be developed to reinforce the consistency of animal welfare monitoring in the UK and ultimately, across Europe.

We are keen to gather opinions from the livestock industry about this system, and ultimately would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively, as we move from specification to building a system prototype.

We would be happy to share our scoping document ( it's a quick read!), but would ask any interested parties to sign an NDA to protect out intellectual property.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

07899 998148

 

[muleman]

It will have to be quick to catch some of my heifers to bull them!

 

[unlacedgecko]

Hi,

We are at the technical scoping stage of designing a system that would use AI enabled drones to manage animal husbandry.

Briefly, the system will comprise of one or more drones (depending on herd size) that would be pre-programmed with the physical characteristics of the animal (species and breed), plus the geography of its pasture, allowing the drones to be launched automatically to gather health data about each animal.

Data gathered would include facial characteristics and size, temperature, and mass. Data would be fed back to a cloud based app that via machine learning, would be able to identify any animal falling below a baseline allowing early intervention.

The system would be flexible enough to assess any species and data captured could be varied by using different combinations of sensors.

The system could provide a complete health record of every animal from birth to slaughter, including ultimately intra and inter country movements.

We feel that the base specification we have in mind could be developed to reinforce the consistency of animal welfare monitoring in the UK and ultimately, across Europe.

We are keen to gather opinions from the livestock industry about this system, and ultimately would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively, as we move from specification to building a system prototype.

We would be happy to share our scoping document ( it's a quick read!), but would ask any interested parties to sign an NDA to protect out intellectual property.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

07899 998148

Interesting concept.

A skilled stockman can do all of the above and administer required treatment at point of need for £15/hr.

Can you match that?

 

[Dave79]

Another problem is drones sound like flies to cattle and might spook them if you need to get close, so it depends on your camera and software being able to cope at a large enough distance to not spook them.

 

[Guleesh]

What happens when we get get heavy rain and strong winds for weeks on end? Are drones capable of flying in those conditions? That's when livestock really need a close eye kept on them.

 

[Yale]

It had crossed my mind this week that if we had a drone up to the job my wife could launch it then fly sorties from home checking stock,she has mobility issues.

Especially the last few days I’ve had some ewes on their backs who are in lamb.

They seem to get cast when the weather is drier and calmer so this may be better for drone checking.

To me it would need to include a good imaging headset and drone capable of flying for 15-20 mins with max 2 min fly to location.

2 batteries to be able to fast recharge.

Ive not looked at any so have no clue.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

It had crossed my mind this week that if we had a drone up to the job my wife could launch it then fly sorties from home checking stock,she has mobility issues.

Especially the last few days I’ve had some ewes on their backs who are in lamb.

They seem to get cast when the weather is drier and calmer so this may be better for drone checking.

To me it would need to include a good imaging headset and drone capable of flying for 15-20 mins with max 2 min fly to location.

2 batteries to be able to fast recharge.

Ive not looked at any so have no clue.

I think to be legal , you have to be in eye sight of the drone , I may be wrong.

 

[Yale]

I think to be legal , you have to be in eye sight of the drone , I may be wrong.

Squint a bit?

 

[yellowbelly]

Hi,

We are at the technical scoping stage of designing a system that would use AI enabled drones to manage animal husbandry.

Briefly, the system will comprise of one or more drones (depending on herd size) that would be pre-programmed with the physical characteristics of the animal (species and breed), plus the geography of its pasture, allowing the drones to be launched automatically to gather health data about each animal.

Data gathered would include facial characteristics and size, temperature, and mass. Data would be fed back to a cloud based app that via machine learning, would be able to identify any animal falling below a baseline allowing early intervention.

The system would be flexible enough to assess any species and data captured could be varied by using different combinations of sensors.

The system could provide a complete health record of every animal from birth to slaughter, including ultimately intra and inter country movements.

We feel that the base specification we have in mind could be developed to reinforce the consistency of animal welfare monitoring in the UK and ultimately, across Europe.

We are keen to gather opinions from the livestock industry about this system, and ultimately would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively, as we move from specification to building a system prototype.

We would be happy to share our scoping document ( it's a quick read!), but would ask any interested parties to sign an NDA to protect out intellectual property.

Thanks in advance.

Alan

07899 998148

Does it have thermal imaging? Our block of rough grazing has screeds of trees and areas of scrub where stock will shelter in adverse weather so difficult to see from above. Any sick animals are likely to be in there too.

Where are you based? I guess you'll need somewhere local to you for testing your prototype.

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

It will have to be quick to catch some of my heifers to bull them!

LOL - now theres an application we'd not considered!

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

LOL - now theres an application we'd not considered!

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

If the price point was less than £15/hr, then would you be interested? There are other elements in here that might bear consideration such as automated analysis of the data gathered to identify disease trends quicker than he might spot and if the stockman is ill or retires?? The system could be on hand literally 24/7 or whenever required.

Thanks for responding and if you have any other thoughts we'd welcome the chance to respond.

Alan

Interesting concept.

A skilled stockman can do all of the above and administer required treatment at point of need for £15/hr.

Can you match that?

 

[Cowmansam]

Interesting concept.

A skilled stockman can do all of the above and administer required treatment at point of need for £15/hr.

Can you match that?

I can do all that and I do it for less than a tenner

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

Does it have thermal imaging? Our block of rough grazing has screeds of trees and areas of scrub where stock will shelter in adverse weather so difficult to see from above. Any sick animals are likely to be in there too.

Where are you based? I guess you'll need somewhere local to you for testing your prototype.

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

Drones can be fitted with whatever sensors are required for the job in hand including thermal. For the problem you mention a light weight LIDAR scanner would give a more reliable result.

Thanks for asking and we'd welcome the opportunity to deal with any other questions.

Alan

 

[Cowmansam]

I could see a use as a heat detection system couple of drones round the shed or out in the field recording temperature and visual heats no tags or collars to fall off cows and for block calving could be rented out per season

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

Sorry - just seem the rest of your message regards location. Yes eventually we would welcome the opportunity to test a prototype, but the purpose of posting here now is to sanity check our existing technical spec that we will shortly begin using to build a prototype.

Thanks again.

Does it have thermal imaging? Our block of rough grazing has screeds of trees and areas of scrub where stock will shelter in adverse weather so difficult to see from above. Any sick animals are likely to be in there too.

Where are you based? I guess you'll need somewhere local to you for testing your prototype.

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

Another problem is drones sound like flies to cattle and might spook them if you need to get close, so it depends on your camera and software being able to cope at a large enough distance to not spook them.

That's a good point but the drone tech we would use would be super quiet, and also for visual inspection with RGB cameras eg facial recognition using AI, the use of ultra high quality optics will mean we don't need to get too close to the animal. Other studies we have reviewed on the interaction of drones with cattle suggest the animals soon get use to the sound. Indeed if they look at the drone while still, it assists in the process of facial recognition.

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

What happens when we get get heavy rain and strong winds for weeks on end? Are drones capable of flying in those conditions? That's when livestock really need a close eye kept on them.

All drones have an upper limit regards stability in high winds but obviously, the heavier the drone, the more stable it will be. Also enterprise drones of the type we would use are weather sealed but clearly, exceptionally severe rain may still compromise the drone.

Thanks for asking the question and we'd welcome the opportunity to answer any further questions that you may have.

Alan

 

[A1|Droneimaging]

It had crossed my mind this week that if we had a drone up to the job my wife could launch it then fly sorties from home checking stock,she has mobility issues.

Especially the last few days I’ve had some ewes on their backs who are in lamb.

They seem to get cast when the weather is drier and calmer so this may be better for drone checking.

To me it would need to include a good imaging headset and drone capable of flying for 15-20 mins with max 2 min fly to location.

2 batteries to be able to fast recharge.

Ive not looked at any so have no clue.

There are many very good relatively inexpensive units on the market that would fit your needs eg the mavic Mini 2. Check the link below. Keep in mind there is a legal (and common sense) requirement to keep the drone within visual line of sight just in case. There are exceptions to this rule for beyond visual line of sight flight but you need special dispensation from the CAA or use a spotter in radio comms with the pilot. Fully automonous drones are becoming more commonplace, but are a few years away from being a consumer item.

If we can help in any way, let us know...www.a1droneimaging.com

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