Visual Guidance and Egg Collection Scheme for a Smart Poultry Robot for Free-Range Farms

Abstract

Free-range chicken farming allows egg-laying hens to move freely through their environment and perform their natural behavior, including laying her eggs. However, it takes time to gather these eggs manually, giving rise to high labor costs. This study proposes a smart mobile robot for poultry farms that can recognize eggs of two different colors on free-range farms. The robot can also pick up and sort eggs without damaging them. An egg feature extraction method with automatic thresholding is employed to detect both white and brown eggs, and a behavior-based navigation method is applied to allow the robot to reach the eggs while avoiding obstacles. The robot can move towards the position of each egg via visual tracking. Once the egg is within the collection area of the robot, it is gathered, sorted and stored in the tank inside the robot. Experiments are carried out in an outdoor field of size 5 m × 5 m under different climatic conditions, and the results showed that the average egg recognition rate is between 94.7% and 97.6%. The proposed mobile poultry robot is low in production cost and simple in operation. It can provide chicken farmers with automatic egg gathering on free-range farms.

Communicating the utility of the microbiome and bioinformatics to small flock poultry producers

“…Part of the difficulty of implementation lies in the fact that because these birds are free ranging; simply getting access to the birds in a timely fashion is a challenge. However, new technologies such as the smart robot system being proposed for visual guidance of egg collection, global positioning systems, and radio frequency identification (RFI) to track individual birds ( Dal Bosco et al, 2010 ; Larsen et al 2017 ; Chang et al, 2020 ) might provide opportunities to combine these technologies with relevant types of sample collections for monitoring grazing birds. While some of these technologies may not be completely adaptable, further investigation is warranted if viable sampling is to occur in the grazing environment settings that these birds are raised.…”

Sistem Kandang Ayam Petelur Otomatis Dengan Memanfaatkan Open-Source Hardware

“…Kotoran ayam petelur yang masih di bersihkan dengan cara mengeruk kotoran lalu dikumpulkan pada karung atau dengan cara menyemprotkan air, serta pengumpulan telur secara manual dengan cara memungut telur sepanjang kandang. Cara tersebut masih kurang efektif dalam melakukan perawatan dan pemeliharaan kandang dikarenakan masih membutuhkan banyak pekerjaan [2]. Oleh karena itu diperlukan fasilitas kandang ayam petelur yang dapat bekerja secara otomatis sehingga menghasilkan kondisi kandang yang tepat [3].…”

Identifying Images of Dead Chickens with a Chicken Removal System Integrated with a Deep Learning Algorithm

“…PoultryBot achieves the goals of navigation and egg collection through localization and object detection. In 2020, Chang et al [ 18 ] proposed a smart mobile robot for poultry houses that can recognize eggs of two colors on free-range farms. The robot can also pick up and sort eggs without damaging them.…”