[Courtesy of IPET]
SEOUL -- A mobile device to weigh farm pigs using 3D image processing technology waits for commercial production at home and exports later through the improvement of product performance. Developers are confident that the new product can reduce feed and management costs and increase the income of pig farmers.
The device developed by Illuvation, a tech start-up, has demonstrated its performance through field tests in a project sponsored by the state-run Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture, Forestry (IPET). "I hope such an excellent product applied with new technology can do well in overseas markets," IPET head Oh Byung-seok said in a statement on December 15.
For traditional visual measurement, farmers drive one pig to a fixed scale and weigh it, which takes a lot of time and labor. IPET said that the new mobile device is about 60 times faster as it measures weight in 10 seconds with an accuracy of more than 95 percent through an algorithm that converts images taken with 3D scanners into weight.
The new product enables the systematic management and selection of fed pigs, IPET said, adding that lluvation found in a pilot operation at pig farms that the appearance rate of first grade or higher rose from 71 percent to 85 percent. The company aims to sell the device in early 2022 that would show higher accuracy and shorten measurement time with big data and artificial intelligence.
"We will work hard to enter overseas markets in 2022 through continuous R&D investment and the improvement of product performance," Illuvation CEO Won Hyung-pil was quoted as saying.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
