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AI-powered technology promises to ‘revolutionise’ animal welfare
A new research project uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine how animals feel in a bid to raise the bar in animal welfare.
UWE Bristol’s Centre for Machine Vision (CMV) is leading a major international research project that aims to teach AI to interpret animal emotions — taking a step towards technology that understands not just what animals do, but how they feel.
The project, titled HoliWell: Towards a Holistic Assessment of Animal Welfare using Emotion and Deep Learning, is funded by Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) through the European Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare and brings together five European partners.
The scheme will combine behavioural science, psychology and computer vision to develop AI models capable of reading animals’ facial expressions, body language and posture to assess both short-term emotions and long-term wellbeing.
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Researchers will study how humans observe animal behaviour using eye-tracking, then train AI systems to recognise the same emotional cues.
The technology could help farmers identify animals needing care earlier, reduce illness and treatment costs and improve welfare management.
Professor Melvyn Smith, co-director of CMV, said: “Through the fusion of AI and ethology, we’re helping society move closer to truly understanding, and improving, the emotional lives of the animals in our care.”
CMV began its research with the Precision Cow Health Management project, replacing manual checks with automated 3D imaging.
The project builds on more than a decade of pioneering CMV research, including award-winning systems such as HerdVision and PediVue, which use 3D imaging and deep learning to monitor livestock health.
All photos: UWE Bristol
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