An image of a pig that appears on a set of smart glasses is displayed on a tablet computer. Courtesy of the University of Miyazaki
MIYAZAKI, May 30 – A research team of the University of Miyazaki and other institutions has developed a set of glasses equipped with a camera which enables wearers to measure pigs’ weight just by looking at them.
By combining artificial intelligence and augmented reality technology, the device can estimate the weight in a matter of seconds, largely reducing the burden of pig farmers.
They can get an estimated live weight and carcass weight of pigs while working on other tasks.
The margin of error is within roughly 4 percentage points, and the team is aiming at commercializing the product.
The system involves gathering data from a 3D camera and a tilt sensor, transferring them to a computer and using AI to select the necessary information from the body height, body length and chest circumference to estimate the weight.
The estimated body mass appears on the glasses and on other devices such as tablet computers, enabling multiple people to confirm the data simultaneously.
The tilt sensor detects the position of the wearer’s head so that the pig’s weight can be measured from any direction.
A pig’s body-shape data collected by the 3D camera is compared against a standard carcass model to calculate the estimated carcass weight.
Even when a pig’s body is bent or when the camera can’t capture its whole body, missing data is automatically added to present the weight. A live weight is estimated based on the potential carcass weight and the average yield.
Measuring pigs’ weight with a scale requires several people, getting them onto the scale and recording the data.
Recently a system to estimate pigs’ weight just by photographing them is being developed, but the research team said the technology to calculate the weight with smart glasses is the first of its kind in the world.
“You can measure the weight while doing other work,” said Kikuhito Kawasue, professor of the university’s Faculty of Engineering. “We want to change pig farming by reducing the workload and raising the efficiency.”