Robotics revolution happening now

Robotics could offer poultry producers a way to reduce reliance on labour and improve environmental monitoring within sheds. Automated devices that patrol poultry units, keeping birds moving and measuring data at their level are becoming increasingly common. One such example is RoboChick, a modular device developed in partnership with universities and industry in the UK. The project, which has now undergone a trial on a commercial farm, aims to improve bird inspections, according to the Royal Veterinary College’s (RVC) Theo Demmers. He has been working on the project since its inception, and says that, while a stockman can inspect a flock of broilers, it is impossible for him to monitor individual birds. And in addition, modern farms use just a handful of sensors to monitor thousands of animals. “That was fine 20-30 years ago, but nowadays we have sheds with 55,000 birds and we’re still using three, maybe four temperature sensors at most, and maybe two humidity sensors. They are also not always down at bird level,” Mr Demmers says.

From concept to proof

So, a concept to build a device that can monitor birds constantly, at their level, without any disturbances was born. As the project developed more partners became involved and today a consortium that includes the RVC, Harper Adams University, commercial farming business Applied Poultry and robotics manufacturer Ross Robotics is working on the project. The result was RoboChick. After small on-farm trials to determine a basic design of a device that could monitor birds’ behaviour and environment without negatively effecting their behaviour.

The first trial was on a commercial farm with a simple device that had a cardboard shell allowing for easy modification. One early issue identified was that the birds were startled by the presence of the bot and moved well out of the way as it approached and left a long trail behind it. But a later trial at the RVC suggested that if a robot operated within birds’ environments from day one, the problems with startling disappeared, as they were used to its presence. In that trial, which replicated a commercial broiler unit on a smaller scale, Mr Demmers says that the chicks were curious about the robot, and “appeared to be imprinting on the robot”. So much so that the design was modified to prevent birds jumping up onto the device and riding it.

Farm trials

Following that first crop of birds reared within a university trial facility, a side-by-side study was designed in a commercial broiler shed. That’s where Applied Poultry, and its chief executive David Speller came in, offering two sheds – one which housed the latest RoboChick and one without, for comparison. Throughout that crop, the RoboChick device took two circuits of the trial shed each day, in a spiral route across the litter, and took two hours each time to do so. Compared with the control at the end of the crop a 2.9% increase in feed conversion was reported from the robot shed, and 18.7% fewer rejected birds, when compared with the control. Mr Speller says he felt it was bird movement that made the difference. “I think this improvement in FCR is due to improved uniformity. Pretty much every species has a way of being aggressive in a visual way, and I suspect broilers are the same.

Maybe the robot is just breaking up that dominance, allowing more birds to get food and water.” One would expect more activity and movement, would be bad for feed conversion, but the robot disturbance is actually allowing smaller birds to get feed and water. Speller: “We cannot replicate what the robot can do. It’s there all the time, appears less aggressive, they get used to it – it is a gentle stirring for the birds.” RoboChick is now looking for more partners to conduct further commercial trials further develop its design, with a view to launching commercially.