COWBOT - New funded project !

The main objective of COWBOT is to develop a novel robotic solution for precision livestock farming (PLF). The proposed solution will be realized as a novel concept of heterogeneous team of robots to be deployed in farming facilities with the aim of monitoring and supporting daily activities. PLF represents a new golden era of dairy industry. Modern livestock farming is searching for new innovations and the latest can boost milk yields, enhance milk quality, and reduce the costs associated to animal productions. There are a variety of aspects of farm management which, if handled through technology, can make operations efficient. Precision farming technologies provide great opportunities for improvements in individual animal management on dairy farms. Combined, all devices may provide data that measures animal management, feeding and welfare, which can then be extrapolated to make changes in the dairy’s facilities.Along these lines, robots are a revolutionary upscaling in the Agri-Food sector for their precision and efficiency. In particular, the heterogeneous robotic team developed within COWBOT will provide disruptive solutions for monitoring precise livestock farming. A multi-modal sensing system will be integrated into the robotic devices for environmental monitoring (temperature, pH, salinity, water and air quality), feed quality (silage, hay and total mixed ration - TMR), possible abnormal fermentations as well as aerobic spoilage, fire prevention, indexes of animals’ welfare and behavior. COWBOT will be the starting point for a coordinated team of robots that may automatically monitor, manage, and safely co-exist with animals in smart, precise livestock farming. Thus, the impacts of the project will embrace the still unreached goal of increasing livestock farming quality and production.

For more information, please contact the responsible of the research unit, Fabio Ruggiero [fabio (dot) ruggiero (at) unina (dot) it].