15 November 2024
An Auckland deep tech firm is creating artificial intelligence capable of detecting early disease in livestock to help reduce unnecessary death rates.
MACSO, a multi-sensory fusion company that creates audio devices that look like lamps hung in livestock quarters to listen for signs of respiratory illness, recently ran trials in the United States and Europe on pig farms, and is producing promising results.
Research conducted by a number of independent studies across both markets on more than 5000 pigs concluded that MACSO’s technology can detect illness in swine between 16 hours and six days earlier than human detection, using artificial intelligence (AI) monitoring.
Its technology monitors the health of the herds, and informs farmers and veterinarians for medical intervention. On use in farms, it was found to have reduced the death rate from an average of 4.8% down to 1.4%.
Interestingly, its AI runs on its hardware, and not in the cloud.
The Auckland CBD-based firm was founded by computer scientist Saba Samiei in 2021, and has plans to expand its offering to cater to poultry and cattle, and in the long term, the domestic pet market.
Two New Zealand farms are actively using its technology.
Samiei said MACSO was trying to solve the problem of reducing animal deaths as farms and demand for meat grew, while also bridging the skills gap in industries such as agriculture, where technology and specifically AI were rarely being used.
“We’re using AI and sensors to basically replicate some of the capabilities of how a human being monitors animals, to provide a 24/7 monitoring solution to farmers for early disease detection,” Samiei told The Post.
“Once we conquer the livestock world, we are going to go into pets as well to be across all animal health monitoring,” said Iran-born Samiei, who moved to India at age 16 to finish her high school and undergraduate studies, then moved to New Zealand to further her university education.
As a byproduct of enabling better health for animals, MACSO wants to work with vets and farmers to reduce the amount of antibiotics consumed by livestock, to produce healthier meat for humans.
Separate research by Oxford Analytica showed that controlling disease in livestock could reduce carbon emissions, poverty, hunger and malnutrition, Samiei said.
She said she hoped her technology demonstrated how AI could be used for the greater good, and was not something to be feared.
“While the rest of the world is focusing on replicating the part of the brain that mimics text, vision and logic, I want to create an AI that mimics the sensory part, which is basically our basic survival instinct.”
MACSO is seeking $1.5 million to fund the next wave of its expansion, and another round next year to raise up $4m.
Further funding would be required to expand into chicken and cow health monitoring.
So far the company has raised $4m in funding. It went through Callahan Innovation and Bridgewest Ventures deep tech incubator in 2021.
Samiei said the company was on the cusp of a new wave of growth, with the business expected to grow significantly over the next two years as it locked in a number of lucrative distribution contracts.
Next year it anticipates its technology will be in use in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and more European countries.
“We are currently in contract negotiation with three distributors, and my aim is that by the end of 2026, we will be on board with every major pork-producing company in the world,” Samiei said.
MACSO said the scope for growth was vast, and it could use its technology to help vets have better control over disease management plans, as well as animal health companies, and insurance and genetics companies.
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