MAKÜ's Smart Agriculture Initiative: Autonomous Feed Pushing Robot "FEDAİ" Developed

Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University (MAKÜ) Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Robotics Department introduced the autonomous feed pushing robot “FEDAİ” developed to increase efficiency in the livestock sector and reduce labor costs. 

Designed with a vision of precision livestock farming, FEDAİ was developed to autonomously bring feed distributed along the feed trough closer to the animals' reach in dairy cattle enterprises. By ensuring that animals have access to fresh and regular feed throughout the day, the system contributes to milk yield potential, automating the need for repetitive labor in enterprises, offering cost advantages, and supporting more efficient use of resources. 

Fully Autonomous Navigation with Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Sensors

FEDAİ is equipped with up-to-date hardware components and an AI-supported detection infrastructure to operate continuously and safely under challenging barn conditions. Thanks to the BarmSeg-ECA-Lite based deep learning model used in visual perception processes, the robot detects the barn floor, feed boundaries, and environmental elements with high accuracy, enabling dynamic route planning. 

The technical hardware of the robot includes the following components:

• Main Control Unit: Raspberry Pi 5 
• Drive System: RoboClaw motor driver and 2 X 600 W geared DC motor 
• Environmental Detection and Safety: RPLIDAR S3 laser scanner, TFmini Plus sensors 
• Imaging: Front NoIR camera and rear camera hardware 
• System and Safety Components: Real-time clock (RTC), emergency stop button (E-stop), tower light, and buzzer 

Continuous Loop from Station Exit to Task Completion

FEDAİ, which has a fully autonomous working principle consisting of four basic stages, automatically exits from the charging station, progresses along the planned route throughout the feed trough, pushes the distributed feed into the animals' reach, and after completing its task, approaches the docking station to wait until the next working period. 

The Precision Agriculture and Agricultural Robotics Department, continuing its field-focused studies in agricultural robotics, computer vision, and autonomous systems, aims to make a strong contribution to digital transformation in agriculture and sustainable production goals with FEDAİ.

We congratulate our faculty members.