Robot Copters To Chase Cows Down Under
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 10 of June , 2008 at 3:26 am
For better or worse, it looks like the days of the cowboys are numbered. In Australia, anyway. According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), unmanned helicopters would be the perfect tool to herd cattle. CSIRO’s Dr. Jonathon Roberts, who I guess has put a lot of thought into this sort of thing, says:
“Have the helicopter figure out where the cows are, know where they have to go and actually plan their path, move around and drive the cows in the right direction. There’s an advantage of using these helicopters they’re noisy and cows don’t like them so they should go in the opposite direction to the helicopter so just like the mustering is done now.”
That sounds like it would be a heck of a lot of fun to watch, if not entirely pleasant for the cows. There’s a ways to go in the software department before UAVs will be able to pull this off, but herding cattle with (piloted) helicopters is more common than you might think. Video example from Hawaii, after the jump.
[ ABC.net.au ] VIA [ RSN ]
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Category: Industrial
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