 |
Wearables For Animals Totally A Thing
Is there a way to predict when a cow is about to calve? There's good money in it if you can. Farmer Niall Austin thinks he can, but he needs tech help.
(Moocall CEO Savage with hi-tech product)
Since childhood, Niall had made an observation concerning the distinct tail movements of a cow when it is about to calve and, following the loss of a calf on his own farm, Niall came up with an innovative idea to help farmers pinpoint the timing of labour."The loss of a cow or calf is a large financial loss to a farmer, so Niall did some Google research and saw that there was no viable product on the market to help ensure that this did not happen again," Emmet explains.
"So at that point, Niall approached me and I knew a little bit about farming because as a child I had milked some cows and I knew that finding out when a cow was going to calve was a big problem for farmers. They were up in the middle of the night, looking to see what cows were in calf, so that they could intervene, if necessary.
"I knew Niall was on to something when he said that there is definitely something in the way a cow's tail can be interpreted to identify when it is due to calve," Emmet says.
"So we embarked on a 'proof of concept' design at that point and in order to do that, Michael Stanley - who is also the CEO of Cairn Homes and a very good friend of mine - and myself put some initial seed capital into the business and we engaged with various partners to work out if tail movements could in fact be used to tell when a cow was going to calve."
I think wearables for animals is an absolutely crazy idea that will totally work. And this is just the beginning. In Johnny Mnemonic, William Gibson wrote about Jones, a military surplus dolphin cyborg.
(Jones the cyborg dolphin from the movie version)
He rose out of the water, showing us the crusted plates along his sides, a kind of visual pun, his grace nearly lost under armor, clumsy and prehistoric. Twin deformities on either side of his skull had been engineered to house sensor units. Silver lesions gleamed on exposed sections of his gray-white hide.
(Read more about William Gibson's cyborg dolphin)
Animals have been getting wearables before this, though; I just remembered this article about Digital Squab Line (DSL) Has High Bandwidth . Check it out.
Via Independent.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/30/2016)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
Has Climate Change Already Been Solved By Aliens?
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.' - Larry Niven, 1970.
Skin Electronics 3D Printed
'June's body is a tracery of lambent lines, like some arcane capillary circuitry...' - Paul Di Filippo, 1985
Super-Resolution Microscopy Provides '4D' Views
View the magnified interior of living cells.
Physicists Try To Turn Light Into Matter
If E=mc squared, then... m=E/c squared!
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Las Vegas Humans Ready To Strike Over Robots
'A worker replaced by a nubot... had to be compensated.'
You'll Regrow That Limb, One Day
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to regrow his lost fingers.'
Elon Musk Seeks To Create 1941 Heinlein Speedster
'The car surged and lifted, clearing its top by a negligible margin.'
Somnox Sleep Robot - Your Sleepytime Cuddlebot
Science fiction authors are serious about sleep, too.
Real-Life Macau or Ghost In The Shell
Art imitates life imitates art.
Has Climate Change Already Been Solved By Aliens?
'I had explained," said Nessus, "that our civilisation was dying in its own waste heat.'
First 3D Printed Human Corneas From Stem Cells
Just what we need! Lots of spare parts.
VirtualHome: Teaching Robots To Do Chores Around The House
'Just what did I want Flexible Frank to do? - any work a human being does around a house.'
Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) Workshop
SF writers have thought about this since the 19th century.
Nanorobots Roam Your Bloodstream, Cleaning It
Too bad they won't have lasers, though...
Galini 3D Printed Sleeping Pod Tiny Houses
'The houses are prefabricated units...'
MIT Boffins Create Psychopath AI On Purpose
There's a lesson in this for neural net AI engineers everywhere.
Skin Electronics 3D Printed
'June's body is a tracery of lambent lines, like some arcane capillary circuitry...'
Artificial Sensory Neurons For Prosthetics, Robots
Great for humans and robots!
China Uses Artificial Intelligence To Grade Student Papers
Looks like the City Fathers are starting to take over China's education system.
Electronic Tongues Will Rule The Kitchen
'Install taste buds in the end of one tentacle...'
