Autonomous Herding Vehicle Formation for Stray Detection and Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies have not effectively combined autonomous vehicle technology, animal behavior research, and image recognition to create practical automated herding systems that can control entire cattle herds and manage strays.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a formation of autonomous vehicles, including drones and ATVs, with onboard navigation and control systems, a trail boss module, and battery replacement stations, which use animal behavior research and machine learning to position and move vehicles to control herd movement and detect strays, employing visual, audible, and movement cues to maintain herd cohesion and direction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If autonomous vehicles are used to herd animals, then labor efficiency is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The herding system is divided into multiple autonomous vehicles, each equipped with specialized sensors and control systems. Individual vehicles handle specific tasks such as detecting strays, maintaining herd boundaries, or guiding herd movement, allowing the complex herding function to be distributed across multiple simpler units rather than requiring one highly complex centralized system
Solution Approach 2:
The autonomous vehicles are designed with multi-functional capabilities, incorporating various sensors (cameras, LIDAR, GPS), navigation systems, and communication modules that can perform multiple herding functions. A single vehicle can detect strays, maintain herd boundaries, and guide movement, reducing the need for specialized equipment for each function and simplifying the overall system architecture
2Reliability
If multiple autonomous vehicles are deployed in formation, then herd control capability is improved, but coordination complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The vehicles communicate their positions, detected animals, and status information to each other in real-time through a networked communication system. This feedback loop allows the formation to self-adjust and maintain proper spacing and coverage, with each vehicle adapting its behavior based on information from neighbors, simplifying coordination through decentralized decision-making
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple vehicles operate as a unified formation with shared intelligence, combining their sensing and actuation capabilities to control the entire herd. The vehicles merge their individual detection data to create a comprehensive view of herd status and coordinate their movements as a single system, achieving reliable herd control through combined effort rather than isolated actions
3Ease of operation
If autonomous vehicles monitor flight zones and points of balance, then animal behavior control is improved, but detection precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses multiple sensors operating in different dimensions and modalities (visual cameras, LIDAR for depth, GPS for position) to detect animal positions and behaviors. By combining information from multiple sensing dimensions, the system achieves the required precision for monitoring flight zones and points of balance without relying on a single high-precision sensor, making the system more robust and easier to operate
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for herding animals by a formation of autonomous vehicles, representing an improvement on U.S. application Ser. No. 18/608,136, AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE AND METHOD FOR DETECTING STRAYS AND MANAGING HERDS. A plurality of herding vehicles use models derived from research and experience in animal husbandry to direct specific vehicles to specific positions with respect to a herd and to move and to emit sounds and light signals so as to induce the herd to stay together and to move in the desired direction at the desired speed. The system detects animals straying from the herd and deploys herding vehicles to drive them back into the herd. It periodically sends herding vehicles to a battery replacement station to receive fully charged batteries. The system operates in two modes: a roundup mode and a herding mode after a herd is fully assembled.