Hi All,
The challenge is to get the flock of sheep grouped together and then move them all to the bottom of the field so that they can be sheered.
Normally the farmer would have to walk up the field with his dog and use whistles or commands at the dog to round the sheep up and move them to the bottom of the field.
The total flight was just under 5 minutes, I decided to use a 1400mAh Nanotech 3s lipo to give me plenty of time out in the field. Near the start of the flight you can see a group of white and black sheep huddled against the hedge that wanted to stay there, these are a different bread to the other white sheep which is why they reacted differently.
The farmer commented that the flock seemed a lot less jumpy and less stressed after being herded by the mini quadcopter rather than how they would be after being herded with the dogs, he thinks it might be because they could all see and hear the location of the mini quad whereas the dogs are silent and the sheep are only reacting to the movements of scared sheep close to them which can cause fear which leads to stress. I showed this video to an RSPCA officer and they thought the same as the farmer.
Full permission was given by the land and animal owner. The quads Flight Controller and RC Rx fail safes are set to 0% throttle. Thank you to my spotter for the Day Chris.
Best viewed full screen 1080p
The challenge is to get the flock of sheep grouped together and then move them all to the bottom of the field so that they can be sheered.
Normally the farmer would have to walk up the field with his dog and use whistles or commands at the dog to round the sheep up and move them to the bottom of the field.
The total flight was just under 5 minutes, I decided to use a 1400mAh Nanotech 3s lipo to give me plenty of time out in the field. Near the start of the flight you can see a group of white and black sheep huddled against the hedge that wanted to stay there, these are a different bread to the other white sheep which is why they reacted differently.
The farmer commented that the flock seemed a lot less jumpy and less stressed after being herded by the mini quadcopter rather than how they would be after being herded with the dogs, he thinks it might be because they could all see and hear the location of the mini quad whereas the dogs are silent and the sheep are only reacting to the movements of scared sheep close to them which can cause fear which leads to stress. I showed this video to an RSPCA officer and they thought the same as the farmer.
Full permission was given by the land and animal owner. The quads Flight Controller and RC Rx fail safes are set to 0% throttle. Thank you to my spotter for the Day Chris.
Best viewed full screen 1080p