Photo: VALENTIN FARRO
Pretty cool. My concern with drones is the nefarious acts that they could accomplish. Like carrying explosives near a busy airport.
Posted on 04/08/2015 8:41:56 AM PDT by PROCON
First they supplanted secretaries, factory workers and store clerks. Now robots are setting their sensors on one of the world’s oldest jobs: herding sheep.
Michael Thomson says his homemade drone is the fastest way to move the roughly 1,000 sheep on his sister’s spread in Dannevirke, New Zealand, to greener pastures. Workers on the 200-acre ranch typically have used horses or all-terrain vehicles to herd the animals and check on their condition. Those all are tasks his quadcopter, a helicopter with four rotors, can do in a fraction of the time, says Mr. Thomson, 22 years old.
“There are limitations, but you don’t have to get on a horse, you don’t have to feed it,” Mr. Thomson says. “Just give it more batteries.”
What do the sheep think? Most seem to respect the drone, though some just look quizzically until it is “a foot away from them and then they realize, Oh crap. I got to run,” he says. “Sheep are naturally scared of things that might attack them.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Photo: VALENTIN FARRO
Pretty cool. My concern with drones is the nefarious acts that they could accomplish. Like carrying explosives near a busy airport.
But enough about the Democratic Party and their voter base!
I think a dog would be better.
Imagine doing this for 24/hrs a day.
Unemployed doggie ping!
From the article:
Some might wonder: What’s wrong with the canine? Dogs aren’t expensive to keep and they are definitely better company than drones.
“They don’t talk about a dog being man’s best friend for nothing,” said Mr. Powdrell, the New Zealand farmer. “We certainly don’t have that same connection with our tractors.”
Heresy! I call it. THink about all those border collies with nothing to herd!
They don’t have coyotes, wolves, bears or cougers in New Zealand.
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