Iranian Experts Build Self-Driving Robot for Poultry Farms

“Periodic and non-continuous monitoring, lack of data recording and identification of sick chickens, creating stress and tension in poultry farming and reducing biological safety, slow monitoring of poultry health by humans, etc. are among the problems that will arise if this technology is not used,” said Farzad Yavari, the managing director of the knowledge-based company.

“The only way to overcome these problems is to use a combination of three technologies of artificial intelligence, robotics, and electronics,” he added.

Noting that the project, after going through the stages of research and development and making prototypes and the semi-industrial stage, is now in the stage of final tests, Yavari said, “The knowledge and various technologies used in this robot is completely indigenous. This technology is one of the new fields that few countries and companies have had so far.”

“The industrialization of this product increases productivity in the country's vital poultry industry, which has a significant impact on the country's food security. It is also possible to develop this technology in other areas,” he underlined.

In a relevant development in March, the research center for the development of new technologies in electrical industries of Islamic Azad University’s Bojnourd branch had succeeded in building a device that in addition to the momentary weight, records the average weight of poultry every 24 hours.

“This system was invented by a veterinarian to settle the technical problems in the poultry industry, including the processes which are time consuming, user fatigue, low efficiency and high rate of error in traditional methods by using a scale and checking standard tables,” Mazdak Teymourtashlo, the head of the research center for the development of new technologies in electrical industries of Islamic Azad University’s Bojnourd branch, told ANA.

He said that the project named ‘growth measurement and comparison with poultry standard with the ability to remove the dynamic load caused by the movement of poultry’ is used to measure the weight of different poultry like broiler chickens, mother hens, ducks and turkeys automatically and without the need for human intervention, adding that it can be programmed to assess the growth of five different types of birds concurrently.

Noting that the smart scale can be hanged from the ceiling, Teymourtashlou said that at least one device is needed in a poultry house and the basis of measurement is to register the initial weight of the chickens and their age along with their breed.

“One of the features of the smart scale is that no mistake or measurement error happens when two or more birds climb up at the same time, chicken manure is poured on the bottom, or birds lean on the bottom of the scale,” he said.

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