Harmful Animal Detection Using Visual Information for Wire-Type Mobile Robots

Recently, the damage caused by harmful animals to crops and to people’s homes has been increasing, and this has become a problem. As of FY2022, damage to crops caused by wild birds and beasts amounted to 15,563 million yen. To reduce damage, electric fences are often installed between forested areas, the habitat of harmful animals, and fields or people’s homes. Electric fences are effective when properly installed and maintained. However, they have disadvantages, such as the risk of electrical leakage if grass or trees come into contact with the wires, and cannot be used during the winter season, making them difficult to operate in uneven terrain. In addition, the labor and costs involved in installation are significant, and considering the recent shortage of agricultural workers in Japan, it is difficult to maintain the current status quo. As a countermeasure for this problem, the authors developed a simple and easy-to-use robot system that can be easily installed in mountain forests, using a moving mechanism with overhead wires and visual information. In particular, this study describes the development of software for detecting harmful animals using visual information. The developed software is characterized by its ability to detect harmful animals with higher accuracy by combining a motion detection algorithm and the object recognition model YOLOv5.