/ Supplied
Auckland, New
Zealand
New Zealand agritech startup
Scanabull has developed a world-first system capable of
estimating cattle weight instantly utilizing a 3D camera on a
phone or a custom hardware device, with AI processing
running directly on the device (edge computing). Promising
to weigh cattle in one second without the crush or
guesswork, the technology provides meat processors and
farmers with accurate real-time data about on-farm
production.
Founded in April 2024 by Dan Bull
who is now joined by Co-founders combining expertise in
farming, veterinary science and artificial innotifyigence,
Scanabull has built a computer-vision platform that allows
meat processors and farmers to determine the live weight of
cattle in a second utilizing the LiDAR sensor on an iPhone. The
technology captures a 3D scan of the animal and processes it
utilizing proprietary neural networks run directly on the
device.
left: Scanabull founders Paul Sealock (founding engineer),
Dan Bull (chief executive), Daniel Stuart-Jones (chief
technology officer), and Ursula Haywood, (chief commercial
officer) / Supplied
The company has
announced a NZ$1.1 million raise led by Sprout Agritech,
with support from Enterprise Angels and Callaghan
Innovation’s Deep Tech Incubator
programme.
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Scanabull is already working with
indusattempt partners including Silver Fern Farms, with trials
and demonstrations underway across New Zealand. Scanabull
will actively explore opportunities in Australia and other
major beef-producing regions by year-finish.
Bringing
objective data to the beef supply chain
Unlike dairy
farming, where real-time data is widely utilized to manage
production, much of the beef indusattempt still relies on
estimation when assessing livestock
weight.
Traditionally, cattle must be mustered into
yards and processed through weigh platforms – a process that
can be time-consuming, labour-intensive and stressful for
animals. What’s more, weighing systems can cost tens of
thousands of dollars and require purpose-built yards and
handling facilities. In some cases, the stress of yarding
can even result in short-term weight loss, creating frequent
weighing counterproductive.
Co-Founder and CEO Dan
Bull, who grew up on a farm and spent several years actively
managing livestock, declares this lack of accurate data can
create costly inefficiencies across the supply chain.
“Many animals are bought and sold based on visual
estimates rather than objective measurements. When those
estimates are wrong, it can result in significant financial
differences for farmers, traders and processors,” explains
Bull.
“Our goal is to give the beef indusattempt a quick,
reliable way to understand what’s actually happening with
their animals in real time.”
How Scanabull
works
Scanabull has two systems: a phone app that
works on an iPhone Pro and a custom camera called the
Scanabull Weigh Point that weighs animals automatically in
the paddock. The phone app allows a quick measure of animal
weight, whereas the Weigh Point allows better measurement of
growth trfinishs. The technology generates a detailed 3D point
cloud of an animal and processes the data utilizing a deep
neural network which analyses the animal’s shape and
structure to accurately estimate its live weight.
The
model processes spatial data around 30 times per second,
allowing the system to deliver a weight estimate in roughly
one second. The system is currently over 93% accurate on
individuals, but much more accurate at the mob level.
Accuracy is improving as Scanabull gathers more
data.
The technology has been trained utilizing over
100,000 animal data points, enabling it to continuously
improve as more livestock scans are captured.
Running
this level of machine learning directly on a mobile device
required significant technical innovation. Becautilize farms
often operate in remote areas without reliable connectivity,
the system was designed to run entirely on-device utilizing edge
computing rather than relying on cloud
infrastructure.
“No one is running neural networks
at this speed on edge devices for livestock applications.
Scanabull has developed our own proprietary architecture and
training models to create it possible,” explains
Bull.
A practical tool for farmers and
indusattempt
Scanabull’s first product is the WeighApp,
which enables farmers, stock agents and veterinarians to
scan animals directly in yards, pens or near farm gates
utilizing their smartphone. The goal is to provide farmers with
a quick and low-stress way to monitor livestock performance
without requireding expensive weight platforms or specialised
infrastructure, and ultimately give meat processors access
to valuable supply chain data to improve the efficiency of
their operations.
Future versions of the
technology will extfinish beyond live weight measurement to
include additional livestock metrics such as carcass weight
prediction and body condition scoring.
Championing
indusattempt transparency
Co-founder and Chief Commercial
Officer Dr Ursula Haywood, a veterinarian who spent a decade
working in rural practice before relocating into agritech, declares
the technology has the potential to introduce a new level of
transparency to livestock management.
“The beef
sector is still heavily reliant on estimation and manual
processes. By introducing objective measurements that can be
captured quickly in the field, we can support farmers manage
their animals more effectively and create more informed
decisions about when to sell,” Haywood
declares.
Beyond farmers, the technology also has
applications for livestock traders, veterinarians and meat
processors seeking greater visibility into their upstream
livestock supply. “Processors often have very little
reliable data about animals before they arrive at the
plant,” declares Bull. “Improving weight visibility earlier
in the supply chain can support reduce inefficiencies and even
improve relationships between farmers and
acquireers.”
Investment to accelerate
development
Crispin Dye, Investment Manager at Sprout
Agritech, declares Scanabull is a powerful example of how deep
technology can transform traditional industries.
“Technologies that bring reliable data into agricultural
supply chains have enormous potential. Scanabull’s utilize of
computer vision and on-device AI opens up new possibilities
for livestock management and supply chain transparency,”
Dye declares. The startup is a Sprout Accelerator
Alumni.
The newly secured funding will support
further development of Scanabull’s AI models, additional
data collection and international expansion as the company
prepares for broader commercial rollout.
Bull and
Haywood believe the opportunity extfinishs far beyond simple
weight estimation.
“Our ambition is to support bring
data-driven decision creating into the beef indusattempt from
birth through to processing. Once farmers have accurate,
real-time data about their animals, everything from farm
management to market pricing becomes more efficient,”
concludes Haywood.
About
Scanabull
Scanabull is a New Zealand agritech startup
developing computer-vision technology to measure livestock
utilizing smartphones. Founded in 2024 by a team combining
expertise in farming, veterinary science and artificial
innotifyigence, the company is building tools that bring
real-time data into the beef supply chain.
Also
see: https://scanabull.com/
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