| Project Reference: | ITP/015/19LP |
| Project Title: | Robotic Tagging and Tracking Technology for Livestock Food Safety Applications |
| Hosting Institution: | LSCM R&D Centre (LSCM) |
| Abstract: | Every year 1.4 million pigs are slaughtered at the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse (SSSH), i.e. 3,800 per day, 350 per hour on the slaughtering line. At SSSH, veterinary officers collects samples from the pigs and tests for chemical residues to prevent contaminations to HK’s food supply chain. The pigs are then pended in lairages awaiting test results. Due to lack of auto-id methods, it takes much time to locate the concerned pigs. Consequent is that the entire slaughterhouse of pigs are withheld from slaughtering until all the concerned pigs are found and detained in good order. How would the concerned pigs be located instantaneously when they were to be detained? This research will develop a robot system to tag the pigs with auto-id markings upon the pigs being unloaded from the trucks to the lairages. Also, an auto-id recognition system will be developed to track the pigs at the lairages. As a goal, the project will provide a means for efficiency improvement in detaining concerned pigs and eliminate the loss from unnecessary halting of the slaughtering line. Generally, the innovation from this project could be extended to auto-id tagging and tracking of other livestock animals in slaughtering operations, such as oxen, lambs, etc. |
| Project Coordinator: | Dr Frank Tong |
| Approved Funding Amount: | HK$2.74 M |
| Project Period: | 01 Jul 2019 - 30 June 2020 |
