A fleet of robots developed in Dunedin are mimicking a stomach compartment of cattle and sheep in the fight against methane.
Rumenaut co-founder and chief scientific officer Stephen Sowerby said artificial rumens were replicating aspects of an animal’s digestive process in a laboratory near the waterfront in central Dunedin.
"It is all happening here in Dunedin."
The technology was unique.
"There is nothing else like this on the planet."
A fleet of 40 robots was going "gangbusters" and producing "animal-like" data.
Lone Star Farms owner Tom Sturgess, who owns sheep and beef stations across the South Island, was interested in methane mitigation and began working with scientist Peter Fennessy.
In 2021, Dr Fennessy invited Dr Sowerby to help him complete due diligence on the investments Mr Sturgess was making to reduce methane on farm.
The findings included many of the investments being deficient in how they measured methane, Dr Sowerby said.
Mr Sturgess asked the scientists how they would measure methane and address the limitations of existing solutions when applied to a pastoral farming system.
Dr Sowerby pondered the question and built a robot prototype, made from mostly plywood, plastic and glue, in his shed in Dunedin in 2022.
The robot replicates aspects of an animal’s rumen and digestive process.
The prototype was tested for nine months in his shed and the results were positive.
"We thought ‘let’s push go on this’."
Rumenaut was formed in 2023, then mechanical and computational designer Martin Jones, of Dunedin, was brought in as a shareholder to help develop a more sophisticated prototype, which could be produced on scale.
Two versions of prototype were produced.
The major difference between the prototypes was their respective tanks having capacities similar to the rumen of a sheep and a cow.
Feed was put in the robot tanks daily.
A major point-of-difference of the research at Rumenaut was a focus on all the content of the rumen including the fibre.
"Everybody else tries to get rid of the fibre and the fibre is where all the action happens."
The action was the microbes breaking down large carbohydrates to smaller sugar units and volatile fatty acids or vinegars.
Gases from the robotic rumens were measured by a methane sensor, designed and manufactured by Dunedin company Kamahi Electronics.
"Our objective is to build devices and technology which allows us to measure really well what is happening on farm."
Rumenaut and PGG Wrightson Seeds have launched a joint-project to research the effect of different forage crops on methane production.
“They are looking for products that hit the sweet spot [which] cut methane and maintain the productivity or enhance it."
He described outcomes of reducing methane and increasing productivity of ruminant farm animals as a "Goldilocks zone of management".
The technologies being developed at Rumenaut always had New Zealand farmers in mind.
"We’ve had several farmers here and they love it because they’ve never seen what goes on inside their animals."
Scientists had been approaching Rumenaut for use of its robots to evaluate their own methane mitigation strategies.
Demand was strong enough to increase robot numbers.
The business had grown to employ 10 staff.
Word-of-mouth about the technology was spreading and had attracted global interest.
"If they are raising ruminant animals and they have a methane problem, they’re interested."
Rumenaut had global ambitions, he said.
"We want to be world leaders in this and we can do it."
