An AI system can detect nine emotional states in cattle and pigs by analysing their faces, and could lead to systems for monitoring and improving animal welfare on farms.
At present, the focus is on reducing animals鈥� pain and distress, but automated systems could help boost positive states as well, says Suresh Neethirajan at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. 鈥淭here is a need to move away from just eliminating negative emotional states to providing positive states, such as playful behaviour.鈥�
Neethirajan collected thousands of images and videos of cattle and pigs from farms in Canada, the US and India and classified them based on cues known from previous research to reveal particular states or emotions. For instance, when the white of a cow鈥檚 eye is visible, it is usually a sign of excitement or stress. Forward-facing ears in a pig are a sign of alertness and sometimes aggression.
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Deep learning was used to detect the faces of animals in these images. The system was then trained to identify 13 facial actions, such as ear movements, that are associated with emotional states like stress, aggression, frustration, neutrality, relaxation and excitement. When tested on another set of images, the system matched the human classification around 86 per cent of the time.
Neethirajan says it will take a couple of years to develop the system to a point where it could start to be used on farms. But he thinks continuous monitoring by cheap cameras hooked up to a cloud-based system could be far better than the occasional visits by welfare auditors that are required in some countries.
According to Neethirajan, the ultimate aim is to be able to predict and prevent problem behaviours, such as tail biting in pigs, which can lead to serious infections.
Improving welfare should improve health and yields, so Neethirajan thinks many farmers will embrace such systems. Some already pay companies to monitor the health of their animals via smart collars or tags, he points out.
Many groups have already created AI systems designed to detect emotions in people, but there is controversy about both their accuracy and their uses. Unlike people, though, farm animals aren鈥檛 thought to try to hide or deceive others about their true emotions.
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