Super Monster Wolf

Electric fences will be a thing of the past: the Super Monster Wolf is on the scene to protect valuable agriculture from curious and often destructive wild animals, while also doing no harm to the animals themselves. Ota Seimitsu at the Hokkaido University and Tokyo University of Agriculture designed a robotic wolf specifically for agriculture in 2017. This robotic wolf is kitted with fur, white fangs, and flashing red eyes, and is only slightly smaller than a wolf at 2.2 ft long. Wolves native to japan went extinct in the early 1800s because of a state-sponsored eradication program, which caused a massive population spike in wild boars and deer, who prey on Japanese crops thus causing a lot of costly damage. The robots have a set patrol route around a field and upon detection of an animal (or human), the robot wolf can make a number of loud and jarring sounds to scare them away, such as a howl or a gunshot. The wolf is kitted with rechargeable solar batteries, so it can hypothetically maintain itself for a long period of time. Super Monster Wolf finished a successful pilot in Kisarazu City in Japan’s eastern region of Chiba, and successfully deterred predators that were as far as a mile away. Super Monster Wolf is now being commercially produced, but for the hefty cost of almost $5000 USD for one unit. The cost could certainly be viewed as inhibitive, and, of course, the robot would not have been necessary had the native wolf population not been decimated. However, considering the damage done by wild animals, the cost may be worth it for some.

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