Development of a Smart Shearing Handpiece

Shearing handpieces have remained relatively unchanged since mechanisation. This investment will examine the opportunity to design smarter handpieces that incorporate sensors to de-risk and de-skill manual shearing with an initial focus on alerting the user when either the tail or the nose of the handpiece is lifting to reduce second cuts and skin cuts. This will contribute to improvements in productivity and animal welfare. The project will also enable the potential integration of robotic automation and the potential removal for the need for wall-mounted drive shafts increasing the flexibility of movement to the shearer.