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Pig sorting system with three exits that incorporates an RGB-D sensor for constant use during fattening

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Abstract

In pig production, the number of pigs raised on each farm is increasing, but the population of workers involved in pig production is decreasing, so lighter labor is expected. On the other hand, it is also important to improve pig grading and profitability. Weight is a major criterion for pig grading. Too heavy or too light will decrease profits, and pigs need to be shipped at the appropriate weight. However, since each pig weighs more than 100 kg, weighing each pig is very labor-intensive. In large farms, more than 50 pigs are kept in a single piggery, and they are shipped together at the same time, after determining the day when they have reached the proper weight for shipment. In order to improve profitability, it is important to control the growth of pigs in a piggery so that they grow uniformly and to determine the appropriate shipping date. In this study, a prototype system was developed to automatically measure daily weight distribution. If the weight distribution in the piggery is known, appropriate shipping dates can be determined. This paper reports the results of a valid experiment using the developed system.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

All animal experiments were conducted in compliance with the protocol which was reviewed by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and approved by the President of University of Miyazaki (Permit Number: 2017-021). This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 20H03108.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan

    Kikuhito Kawasue, Khin Dagon Win & Geunho Lee

  2. KOYO Plant Services Co., Miyazaki, Japan

    Kumiko Yoshida

Authors
  1. Kikuhito Kawasue
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  2. Khin Dagon Win
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  3. Kumiko Yoshida
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  4. Geunho Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kikuhito Kawasue.

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This work was submitted and accepted for the Journal Track of the joint symposium of the 29th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, the 9th International Symposium on BioComplexity, and the 7th International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics (Beppu, Oita and Online, January 24-26, 2024).

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Kawasue, K., Win, K.D., Yoshida, K. et al. Pig sorting system with three exits that incorporates an RGB-D sensor for constant use during fattening. Artif Life Robotics 29, 37–42 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-023-00917-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-023-00917-4

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