Frenchman Marc-Alexandre Favier, 27, a student at Harper Adams University College, Shropshire, has developed a battery-powered unmanned aircraft that would act as an eye in the sky for farmers. It would cost the farmers just a few hundred pounds.

Mr. Favier has also designed a programme which enables the AR Drone 2 to locate, recognize and track livestock with a home computer or, with a smartphone.

Mr. Favier added, “The idea is to combine using a quad bike with an unmanned aerial vehicle to help the shepherd not to have to spend too much time managing his flock”.

He said that the use of robots for professional purpose has been increasing significantly. It is the future and present.

Mr. Favier’s prototype is not the first drone being designed to help the farmers. The Flying Shepherd was tried in Cumbria in 2011 and it was proved to be highly useful in indentifying escaped and injured livestock.
But, the student at the Harper Adams agricultural college in Shropshire has devised a robotic replacement for the sheepdog.

Mr. Favier hails from France and occupied a larger and emptier landscape. Conditions are different in Britain and much of the hill country is likely to be occupied by windfarms soon.