Can Quadcopters Herd Ferel Hogs?

[HogMan]

Please excuse my intrusion, but I want to get your thoughts on an unusual question. The USDA does not allow the distribution of wold pig meat unless the pigs were live captured and then inspected by a USDA inspector to see if there are any diseased pigs. I am trying to get this meat to the hungry via Food Banks in Texas. There are about 2 million wild pigs in Texas and they are destroying crops and ranch lands.

Currently ranchers and farmers are killing them and just leaving them to rot. So, it occurred to me that quadcopters could do two things. Herd the pigs into pens or traps and then live feed video of the captured pigs back to USDA inspectors. There are already programs in place that will take it from this point and getting them processed and into the Food Banks.

Please do not think this will be easy. These creatures are super smart. But I thought it might be an interesting challenge. Almost a kind of video game. The ranches have game fences. For now, I guess the effort would be limited to ranches and farms smaller than 600 acres because of the current range of quadcopters.

Anyway, I would certainly appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Mike]

Sorry for the delay in response! Not many members here yet.

I think this would be a very interesting experiment, and if you were successful, you'd definitely be all over the news! People love good quadcopter news. As far is it working goes, can wild pigs really be herded? I've read all over the place that herding them is pretty much impossible because they're so smart and pretty fast. I think if you were going to herd them with quadcopters, you'd probably have to hit them from multiple angles at the same time and then come in pretty low so they don't just run past the copter.

Also, the distance thing wouldn't be much of an issue because there are a lot of technologies that can increase distance up to several miles - but you'd run into flight time issues if you're using something that is battery powered. You'd almost have to go gas or solar so you could get very long flight times so you don't have to come back and change out batteries in the middle of herding one of those suckers.

 

[HogMan]

Sorry for the delay in response! Not many members here yet.

I think this would be a very interesting experiment, and if you were successful, you'd definitely be all over the news! People love good quadcopter news. As far is it working goes, can wild pigs really be herded? I've read all over the place that herding them is pretty much impossible because they're so smart and pretty fast. I think if you were going to herd them with quadcopters, you'd probably have to hit them from multiple angles at the same time and then come in pretty low so they don't just run past the copter.

Also, the distance thing wouldn't be much of an issue because there are a lot of technologies that can increase distance up to several miles - but you'd run into flight time issues if you're using something that is battery powered. You'd almost have to go gas or solar so you could get very long flight times so you don't have to come back and change out batteries in the middle of herding one of those suckers.

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Thank you for your thoughts. Yes, I have some concerns that their intelligence would be a reason why they could not be herded. I recent saw a prank video with a Halloween theme http://cheezburger.com/55680257 Perhaps if there was a sound that could be made that frightens the pigs.

I still have to get USDA buy-in that this would qualify as a pre mortem inspection. Once over that hurdle, then the fun will begin with the quadcoper (drone) community to figure out how to herd them. Again many thanks for your thoughts

 

[Mike]

No problem. Haha - I saw a couple of those videos. Maybe they'd be scared of a quadcopter with some sort of costume on it that makes it look bigger so they think they couldn't get past it. Or maybe like some 10 foot long reflective ribbons or something hanging down from it so it looks like they have nowhere to go. It'd still be hard though unless you came in from a bunch of angles, and you'd have to herd out in the open in that case or you'd risk getting tangled on something.

Too bad you couldn't just lace a bunch of acorns with tranquilizer and then go collect the pigs when they pass out.

 

[HogMan]

First Happy New Year! Second my apologies for my delayed response. I have not met with USDA to determine whether they would accept video as pre-mortem inspection.

I wanted to mention that I have shared information about quadcopters with several people. One of my friends asked if it would be possible to use quadcopters to inspect highways while under construction and afterwards for maintenance purposes. There are several new toll roads in Texas that were financed by private developers. Naturally, these private companies would like to maintain their asset in top condition to ensure their customers find their toll a worthwhile investment.

Again, I apologize for my lack of communication.

 

[holtneil]

Hi hogman sorry to but in , you can get a micro sound generator its tiny but loud, there use them on rc helis to make them sound real ,well you can have any sound you like play through a speaker the unit it self is the size of an FPV signal sender, so if you know what sound hogs dont like there you go you sould be able to make them run there you want
And as for highway inspection you just want 2 cameras one for FPV second for looking down at road , use GPS on the quad and your be able to track where the quad has been

 

[HogMan]

holtneil - this is really great of you to provide this info. I hope you will excuse me but I am not that familiar with quadcopters yet, so could I ask for some additional detail please. I did not follow what you were sating about the highway inspection. What does FPV mean? Are you saying that the first qc is like the guide with the GPS and it is telling the second qc with the video camera to follow it?

 

[holtneil]

Hi Hogman FPV is first person view so when fitted to a quad you look through goggles and you see what the camera sees, and you then fly as if your sat on the quad, the second camera would look down at the road so this will be zoomed in so you can see the surface, the gps system will give you height hold and yes with a good system you can tell it way points to fly to before it comes back home , but other than that you can fly it your self and then use a laptop to lock into quads gps so it can show you on a map where you have been flying speed etc watch video of a good FPV set up the video is what the camera is seeing and what the operator is seeing to fly the quad

 

[HogMan]

Absolutely amazing! I will send this to my friend. Thank you holtneil !

 

[holtneil]

if you need any help just ask mate no problem

 

[HogMan]

Thank very much! I probably will ask! Are you in Australia?

 

[holtneil]

no mate a very wet uk , i could come and live in your barn lol anything to get out of the rain

 

[HogMan]

I will talk to my friend with a ranch in Pearsall, Texas. I bet if you were to show him how to "upgrade" the quadcopter he received for Christmas, he would be happy to accommodate you. He is the one that I am teamed with to get the wild hogs into the food chain.

 

[holtneil]

HI hogman , get him on here and i will try and help him sort out what he need , enjoy the sun mate and send some this way please

 

[Mike]

Hi hogman sorry to but in , you can get a micro sound generator its tiny but loud, there use them on rc helis to make them sound real ,well you can have any sound you like play through a speaker the unit it self is the size of an FPV signal sender, so if you know what sound hogs dont like there you go you sould be able to make them run there you want
And as for highway inspection you just want 2 cameras one for FPV second for looking down at road , use GPS on the quad and your be able to track where the quad has been

Great advice on both topics!

 

[holtneil]

Thanks mm i do try and help if i can , i leant this hobby with help so now is pay back to the hobby, so i help i dont know everything but can still help