788.11J Presentation Herding Cows with Sensors

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788.11J PresentationHerding Cows with Sensors
Presented by Ryan Boder
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The Main Idea

• Herd cattle from one place to another using
  mobile virtual fences similar to those used to
  keep domestic pets in a yard.
• Use robot path planning theory to guide the
  virtual paddocks

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The Main Achievements

• Developed path planning algorithm that was
  effective in simulation, but not on real cows
• The main contribution was a method for path
  planning an area (paddock) with moving walls as
  opposed to a a single point such as a robot
• Optimized the computationally intensive path
  search so that it could be performed easily on a
  PDA

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The Challenges

• Animal state is only partially observable
• No direct control over animals actions
• Connectivity to base station from far away
• Cows didn't respond to sounds
• Many dimensions in path planning for a dynamic
  polygon

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Pictures
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Innovation

• An example of a sensor application that performs
  actuation, not just data collection
• Provides an alternative to using a border collie
  or robot herder
• If successful would give farmers much better
  control over herds than they have today