A worker (left) of Nongxin Digital Intelligence Technology Co introduces the company's pig-farming system at the company's showroom in Yancheng, Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to CHINA DAILY]

　　At a pig farm in Yancheng, Jiangsu province, a robot equipped with four wheels, cameras, and sensors patrols along the aisle between rows of pig stalls. It collects real-time data including pig behavior, water intake, feed consumption, ambient temperature and humidity, as well as disease-related physical signs.

　　The data will then be uploaded to a large model platform, where algorithms perform in-depth data analysis. The third stage feeds the results back to front-end devices to deliver closed-loop responses such as precision feeding, anomaly alerts, and environmental regulation. This demonstration illustrates how robots and artificial intelligence tools are being deployed across parts of China to help raise pigs in a bid to boost efficient husbandry.

　　According to Chen Libing, director of public relations at Nongxin Digital Intelligence Technology Co in Yancheng, the use of the robot has helped cut feed waste by between 8 and 10 percent and reduce human labor by approximately 30 percent. The overall disease incidence has dropped by 30 percent and the market-age finishing pigs reach slaughter weight five to seven days earlier on average.

　　"For instance, when AI detects a sustained three-day drop in feed intake among pigs in a pen, it automatically triggers rechecks of body temperature and cross-references the results with drinking water records," he said. "Combined with historical disease models, the system issues early warnings for suspected respiratory infections. Workers can then take pre-emptive intervention to contain the spread of illness."