Pig+ is a sensor that can help farmers to detect differences in a pigs' movement pattern.
A big pig farm in Sweden has more than 900 pigs to keep track on. It is hard for a farmer to detect when a pig gets sick and it is often discovered to late. Sick pigs need antibiotics or if the illness is discovered to late the pig will be disposed. The loss of a pig is a big cost for the farmer.
With help from Pig+ the farmer can detect a pig that is getting sick at an early stage and give it preventative care fast. This will save money for the farmer and will reduce the use of antibiotics which gives a more sustainable farming and breeding.
The pig+ sensor will measure a pigs movement. From the data it can be detected if a pigs movement pattern i changing. The sensor sends information to the farmer about movement differences. This change of a movement pattern is a sign of illness.
The sensor notifies the farmer via an app and a light blinks on the pig+ device - the farmer can quickly take action. The data from all the pigs can later be compared and different movement patterns can easier be discovered.
I was responsible for the hardware design, from concept phase to production phase. During the concept phase we did a lot of research both in the farm environment and with similar products on the market.
The hardware needed a lot of testing in its real environment. A pig farm turned out to be a big challenge for the product; the environment is tough with a lot of dirt and water and also the product needed to stand pigs chewing on it and a lot of irregular movement. We also needed to understand the farm life better and the users there - what was their wants and needs? How was the product going to be fastened on the pig and how did the product journey look was some of the questions we needed to get an answer to.
The work was conducted together with UI/UX designers. To be able to get the right sensor data for the project , and in the end a successful product , a good teamwork was needed.
