Cumberland introduces Scout robot to promote poultry health and performance

ASSUMPTION, Ill. — Cumberland, AGCO’s poultry production equipment brand, is introducing Scout, the world’s first ceiling-suspended robot system to continuously monitor broiler chickens and their poultry house environments to increase animal welfare as well as farm productivity.

“With Scout, producers can achieve better feed conversion, early disease detection and fine-tuning of climate control, resulting in reduced mortality and less condemnation numbers,” said Scott Becker, director of North America sales for Cumberland.

The advanced robot uses a complete set of sensors to map key indicators that impact bird health and performance, including:

• Thermal comfort — temperature, relative humidity and air speed.

• Air quality — CO2 and ammonia.

• Light intensity.

• Sound levels.

• Bird distribution.

Scout also classifies excrement for early disease detection 24 to 48 hours before producers may become aware of an issue. In addition, the technology identifies dead birds.

Monitoring information is available to producers 24/7 from any device, including daily and weekly reports with maps of their entire house.

Scout can send up to 15 different alerts to producers’ mobile phones to keep them informed when they’re away from the farm.

“The consistent and accurate reports allow producers to identify and fix problems before they become a larger issue,” Becker said.

Scout can be ordered through the Cumberland dealer network.