Tokyo University of Technology and NARO Sign Joint Research Agreement

Tokyo University of Technology (President: Yutaka Kagawa) and the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO, President: Kazuhiro Chiba) have signed a joint research agreement to advance technology development and social implementation in the livestock sector.

This research project aims to develop an integrated grazing management system that saves labor and reduces wildlife damage by combining the university's engineering expertise—including robotics, sensing, AI, and digital twin technology—along with its large-scale data analysis and simulation infrastructure powered by the 'Seiran' supercomputer, with NARO's extensive knowledge in livestock and its field testing environments. At Tokyo University of Technology, the research will be led by the 'Advanced Smart Agriculture Research Center,' involving faculty from multiple disciplines.

Japan's livestock industry faces challenges such as rising production costs and a shortage of successors, with grazing, in particular, requiring reduced work burdens and improved efficiency. This research will focus on developing robot and drone-based grazing management support, behavior control technologies to suppress damage from deer, and AI-enabled livestock and environmental monitoring. The massive data collected will be analyzed using the 'Seiran' supercomputer to construct optimal grazing management models, leading to an integrated system.

The project will conduct demonstrations at NARO's grazing test sites, aiming to establish a system ready for practical operation by the end of fiscal year 2030. Through this initiative, both organizations will contribute to improving the productivity of the livestock industry and building a sustainable production system.