Automated early detection technology providing rapid alerts and safeguarding productivity.

Broiler chickens are reared in short, high-density production cycles where disease can move quickly through a flock. In houses containing tens of thousands of birds, even a short delay in recognising a health challenge can affect welfare, growth rate, mortality, feed conversion and final flock performance.

FARM-PROTECT is RoboScientific’s automated poultry health monitoring system, developed to provide earlier, non-invasive insight into changes in flock health. The system samples air from the poultry house and analyses volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, produced as the biological status of the flock changes.

All animals release VOCs into the air. When disease, infection or stress begins to affect a flock, the VOC pattern in the house can also change. RoboScientific’s sensor arrays detect these changes and generate a digital fingerprint from the air sample. Machine-learning analysis can then compare this fingerprint with known disease-related patterns to identify early signs of a developing health challenge.

For broiler producers, the aim is simple: earlier warning, faster investigation and more timely intervention. By detecting changes before disease has caused major visible impact, FARM-PROTECT has the potential to help farmers protect bird welfare, reduce losses and support birds in reaching target weight more consistently.

Much of RoboScientific’s poultry work has focused on broiler production, where flocks are typically housed in large barns and reared over a production cycle of around six weeks. The company has investigated VOC signatures associated with a range of poultry health challenges, including bacterial, parasitic and gut-health related disease risks.

Diseases such as Necrotic Enteritis can have a rapid and severe impact if not identified and managed quickly. Earlier detection gives producers and veterinary teams a better opportunity to investigate, confirm the cause and take appropriate action before flock performance is significantly affected.

FARM-PROTECT is designed to operate automatically in the poultry house, reducing the need for manual sampling and avoiding stress to the birds. Alerts can support more proactive flock management, helping producers move from reactive disease response towards continuous, data-led health monitoring.