| Volume 25 Issue 5/6 - Publication Date: 1 May/June 2006 |
| Special Issue on the Ninth International Symposium
on Experimental Robotics, 2004 |
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| From Robots to Animals: Virtual
Fences for Controlling Cattle |
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| Z. Butler Computer
Science Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623
USA, P. Corke CSIRO ICT Centre, Australia, R. Peterson
Dartmouth Computer Science Department, Hanover, NH 03755 USA,
and D. Rus Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,
MIT, Cambridge MA 02139, USA |
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| We consider the problem of monitoring and
controlling the position of herd animals, and view animals as networked
agents with natural mobility but not strictly controllable. By exploiting
knowledge of individual and herd behavior we would like to apply a vast
body of theory in robotics and motion planning to achieving the constrained
motion of a herd. |
| In this paper we describe the
concept of a virtual fence which applies a stimulus to an animal as a function
of its pose with respect to the fenceline. Multiple fence lines can define
a region, and the fences can be static or dynamic. The fence algorithm is
implemented by a small position-aware computer device worn by the animal,
which we refer to as a Smart Collar. We describe a herd-animal simulator,
the Smart Collar hardware and algorithms for tracking and controlling animals
as well as the results of on-farm experiments with up to ten Smart Collars. |
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| Multimedia Key |
= Video |
 = Data |
= Code |
= Image |
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Extension |
Type |
Description |
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1 |
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Example
1: Simulation of unforced animal motion. (1.8 MB) |
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2 |
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Example
2: Simulation of forced animal motion, slow threat object. (2.0
MB) |
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3 |
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Example
3: Simulation of forced animal motion, fast threat object. (1.3
MB) |
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4 |
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Example
4: Simulation of a virtual fence. (3.7 MB) |
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5 |
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Example
5: Simulation of two animal populations being separated. (1.8
MB) |
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6 |
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Example
6: Observed effect of stimulus on animals in the field. (1.8 MB) |
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