University of Sunshine Coast students have successfully taught robodogs new tricks, developing an app that uses voice commands to herd sheep.
Realising a vision of cult cartoon The Jetsons, UniSC robodogs will appear alongside livestock at Queensland’s largest agricultural show, the Ekka, from this Saturday until August 16.
A previous UniSC student project trained Unitree Go2 robodogs to herd sheep autonomously using cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence.
However, project supervisor Dr Erica Mealy said advances had been made by listening to those who would use the technology – farmers.
“Although the robodogs were originally intended to operate autonomously, working-dog handlers gave feedback indicating they wanted to remain in control,” Dr Mealy said.
“Rather than rely solely on automation, this allows a different, user-led experience.
“We wanted the robodog to stop when a handler said ‘stop’, or flank the back of the flock when a handler gave a certain command.
“Just like when we were first approached, the aim here is to assist with a practice which can be costly, labour-intensive and physically demanding.”
UniSC honours student Abdullah al Muhsin said the voice-command project centred on a web-based app allowing users to issue commands via a phone or laptop.
“The app listens to what you’re saying, recognises specific commands and sends those instructions to the robodog,” Mr al Muhsin said.
The system uses Google Chrome’s built-in speech-recognition technology to listen for basic commands such as “stop”, “away” and “come by”.
When a user speaks, the app converts their words into text and identifies any recognised commands, transmitting the instruction to the robodog via a WebSocket API, creating a live link between the browser and the robodog.
Software running on an onboard NVIDIA Jetson computer receives the command and translates it into movement, allowing the robodog to respond in real time.
Mr al Muhsin said the software was designed to work with any user rather than being trained to recognise a specific voice.
About 30,000 people each day are expected to watch UniSC’s robodogs in action in the Ekka Main Arena from 6.30pm.
This year marks 150 years of the Royal Queensland Show, now referred to as the Ekka.
Media contact: UniSC Media | media@usc.ed
