Whether in veterinary medicine, herd management, agriculture, research or teaching: wherever there are animals, there is data – data waiting to be collected and combined. Understandably, it’s not always straightforward when working from a barn or stable. This is where smatrix comes in – the language assistance software keeps the assessors’ hands free and ensures greater data security and precision.
The classic tool of the animal stock expert is the clipboard. But only for the time being. According to Professor Marc Drillich, Head of the Clinical Unit for Herd Health Management in Ruminants at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the use of smatrix should soon become standard practice in teaching. It makes sense. For one thing, it will improve the training of future vets and give them experience using digital tools. With the right smatrix solution, he could therefore banish clipboards from VetFarm, the university’s teaching and research facility.
ENTER THE STABLE – LEAVE THE CHAOS BEHIND
At the interface between research, agriculture and veterinary medicine, animal health data is always being collected. The problem is paperwork. Or to put it bluntly, paper chaos. Documents get dirty, smudged and lost – that’s the nature of the beast. This complicates the subsequent transfer of data into Excel, making it time-consuming and prone to errors. It also gives rise to transmission errors due to media discontinuity. For Professor Drillich, this is what makes data collection via voice so much more than a simpler way of working. It is a logical conclusion and a path to the future.
smatrix can make many things easier for us. We intend to build on that.“
(Prof. Marc Drillich)"Finally we have both hands free during animal inspections and can record the traits we observe by speaking into the headset. And since the data is transferred directly into an Excel spreadsheet, which forms the basis for our statistical evaluation, another workstep is eliminated altogether.“
(Prof. Marc Drillich)AGRICULTURE IS GOING DIGITAL
Historically, agriculture has always been progressive in terms of applying new technologies. It is not out of place in the industry to talk of robots on the fields, artificial intelligence in cowsheds or advanced sensor technologies. Aside from cost and efficiency considerations, the digital transformation in agriculture is already opening up a new dimension of resource conservation and animal welfare, as Joachim Rukwied, President of the German Farmers’ Association (DBV), highlights in the 2018/2019 DBV Situation Report.
This is also a burning issue within Professor Drillich’s field of work and research. And it’s a perfect fit for voice technology: in the innovation-fuelled discussion about the future, smatrix is a tangible, practical tool – ideal for reducing inhibitions and bringing the advantages of digital technologies to life.
