Cargill’s robotic cattle driver could be prototype for other livestock, poultry

Cargill has developed an industry-first robotic cattle driver aimed at improving animal welfare and employee safety. The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. The company noted in a news release the belief that its robotic cattle driver has multiple applications for improving animal handling and worker safety across livestock and poultry supply chains and Cargill is working toward making them available for use throughout the industry.Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a greater distance from the 1300-pound animals.