Typically, this period is identified by the farmer through visual observation of a set of behavioral signs exhibited by the cow. However, using this method of detection in large herds is a tedious process. In addition, cow signs may be affected by various health and environmental factors, which reduces the effectiveness of detection.

To address these limitations, a novel endoscopic heat detection system was developed using an innovative insemination technology called Eye Breed and an artificial intelligence model designed and optimized for smartphone deployment.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the Eye Breed device, equipped with an on-board camera and connected to a smartphone, is inserted into the cow’s genital tract by a human operator who supervises a simulated insemination operation in real time. The recorded video is then automatically analyzed by the artificial intelligence model embedded in the smartphone to determine the heat status of the cow in less than 20 seconds.  The artificial intelligence model developed employs a deep learning technique based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), whose structure is inspired by the receptive field structures found in the human primary visual cortex.