Farmer herds sheep with a drone in latest sign of robots taking over
Lauren O'Neil | CBC News | Posted: March 30, 2015 8:17 PM | Last Updated: March 30, 2015
That’ll do, drone. That’ll do.
It appears as though replacing human workers won’t be enough to satisfy our shiny metal overlords when they take over.
As evidenced by this footage of a drone successfully herding sheep, robots are coming for all of the jobs — canines included.
Irish farmer and aerial photographer Paul Brennan uploaded the video seen above on Saturday after experimenting with his new quadcopter in a sheep pasture.
Despite soaring high above the flock at several points to capture its scope, Brennan’s "drone sheepdog" was able to herd approximately 120 sheep from one field to another in just minutes.
"Watch the sheepdog of the future Shep the Drone as he moves sheep from one field to another" wrote Brennan in the description of his YouTube video, which has now been viewed more than 100,000 times.
Brennan told the BBC that his quadcopter worked "perfectly" in rounding up the sheep on his brother’s Dublin farm, but the U.K.’s National Farmer’s Union isn’t so keen on seeing dogs replaced by drones.
"There may be a use to check-in on animals grazing on common land or in the hills but that's about the limit," said a representative for the organization to BBC News. "The reality is that a good sheepdog is a far better way to go about the job."
Some of the commenters on Brennan’s YouTube video were similarly put off by the idea of a "flying sheepdog."
"It's people like you who are contributing to the epidemic of unemployed sheepdogs," wrote one commenter. "For shame."
"So now, even the Border Collies are losing their jobs," wrote another.
All robot-related dog unemployment jokes aside, many are pointing out that this is a particularly useful application for a drone.
Commercial drone applications have been making headlines for years, but often only for novelty’s sake (or because they’ve run afoul of the law.)
When contrasted against drones that deliver beer, tacos and mistletoe, a sheep-herding drone seems like a work of "shear" genius.
While SHEP is by far the most high-profile sheep-herding drone at this point, Brennan’s drone was not in fact the first quadcopter to successfully wrangle sheep.
At least half-a-dozen similar videos dating as far back as June, 2013 can currently be seen on YouTube, though none of the drones are seen herding as many sheep as SHEP.
Other videos on YouTube show drones herding cattle, mountain goats and even Canadian geese.
That’ll do, drone. That’ll do.