Camera vision system to revolutionise farming

A University of Southern Queensland (USQ) PhD student has developed a new camera vision system that could revolutionise farm and animal management practices.

Mark Dunn, who has been working with the National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA), is currently completing his PhD in Engineering at USQ and has created a system that has applications for farmers all around the world.

'It is called the ‘Rugged Outdoor Camera' (ROC) and is a portable device capable of recording motion video as well as performing image processing tasks,' Mr Dunn said.

'For farmers it provides remote monitoring of their livestock and farm assets.

'Images may be transmitted to their home computer or laptop, saving unnecessary trip around the property so really it is a time and labour saving device.'

Although similar camera vision systems do exist, they are much more expensive and not designed for the extreme conditions encountered in agriculture.

'There are systems out there that do the same sort of monitoring, but they involve setting up laptops or video recorders and can cost up to $10,000, while my ROC is much smaller and will only cost somewhere around $1,000 to $2,000.

'It can also work thorough almost any conditions.'

Field trials of the system have already been undertaken, with the agricultural and rural industries reacting positively to the design.

'So far we have used the ROC in several different applications and it has performed well,' Mr Dunn said.

'The ROC's are coming onto the market now and over the next few weeks we will be delivering our first two to research projects, one here and one in the United States.'

From the trials, the ROC is expected to be widespread on farms and properties across the globe.

'This is a great option for farmers as it saves them money and time and will assist with the management of their land,' Mr Dunn said.

Media Contact: Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 1628, 0403 643 192