Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Dairy (RAISD)

A robotic platform will monitor dairy cows and their environment in real time, using artificial intelligence to calculate the carbon footprint of every litre of milk produced. Dairy farming faces pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining productivity and animal welfare. Current accreditation of farm practices relies on manual inspections and paper records, which are slow, subjective, and inconsistent. This project fills the gap by creating an autonomous system that continuously measures methane output, feed efficiency, and animal behaviour, then feeds that data into a certification standard that consumers and retailers can trust. If the platform works, farmers could adjust feeding and herd management on the fly to cut emissions without sacrificing yield. Milk retailers would gain verifiable, real-time sustainability metrics for their supply chains. The system is designed for international sale, meaning its impact could extend beyond UK farms to global dairy production. For the public, the change would be invisible but concrete: lower-carbon milk on supermarket shelves, backed by data rather than claims. The project is applied engineering, not fundamental science—its success depends on integrating existing sensors, robotics, and AI into a reliable commercial product.