788.11J Presentation
“Herding Cows with Sensors”
Presented by Ryan Boder
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
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
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
Pictures
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