1. Principles and practices

This week I worked on defining my final project idea and started to getting used to the documentation process.

Research

The guinea pig is a species native to the Andean region of our country, considered a native food product with high nutritional value and low production cost, which contributes to the food security of the rural population with limited resources. The way in which it is raised is through ponds, cages, galvanized iron. Most guinea pig breeders have had many problems handling and cleaning. The average time it takes is 5 to 8 hours of work depending on the number of guinea pigs in each cage or shed. However, guinea pig breeders cannot continuously monitor the conditions of these animals as we can see.

Our proposal to this problem is to create a cage with a monitoring system (video camera or motion sensors) that is designed so that guinea pig breeders can monitor very easily with the help of water, temperature and humidity sensors that occurs in the cage. A mini fan will be placed at the top of the chamber base to provide ventilation. We will also have sensors for collecting guinea pig urine. For food we will use a sound sensor that these guinea pigs make when eating to activate forage and balanced food. This will allow the staff that raises the guinea pigs to carry out other activities such as pasture maintenance or watering them, raising chickens, rabbits and larger animals, among other activities on the farm.

These cages with a monitoring system will be used by guinea pig breeders in our Huancavelica region, low-income families who are starting from home with small, easy-to-handle cages.

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Last update: December 8, 2022