UGM Vocational College students have developed an automatic chicken feed dispenser named “Simar” to improve the efficiency of the chicken feeding process and assist small to medium-scale chicken farmers.
Simar is designed to hold up to 60 kg of chicken feed and can be controlled through a smartphone application, making it an efficient and cost-effective solution for chicken farmers.
“This device was developed to improve the efficiency of the chicken feeding process,” explained the Simar development head, Muhammad Rizky Mahfud, on Thursday (October 5).
This modern technology aims to address the gap in chicken feeding processes in the Indonesian livestock sector.
According to him, the challenge of technological advancement for small to medium-scale chicken farmers has yet to be well resolved.
Meanwhile, the gap is still evident, especially for medium to large-scale chicken farmers accustomed to modern technology. They use technology to enhance chicken production by efficiently managing the time for feeding.
“If we look at the data from Statistics Indonesia, the population of broiler chickens has increased by 279,117,222 in the past year. Given this situation, technology certainly plays an important role in chicken farming,” Mahfud said.
Mahfud was joined by four of his colleagues, Abdan Sirajuddin, Dharmawan Satria Pambudi, Erwin Yulianto, and Ahmad Iqbal Baihaqi, using grant funds from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology’s 2023 Student Creativity Program.
These students also received guidance from lecturer Ma’un Budiyanto.
Simar can be used for 3–4 days, according to Abdan Baihaqi, as it is made to contain up to 60 kg of chicken feed.
“Simar is also equipped with various sensors, such as a chicken feed volume detection sensor, temperature sensor, and real-time scheduling displayed on the LCD screen on the device’s body,” Baihaqi explained.
Baihaqi hopes this automatic chicken feed dispenser can be mass-produced. This way, it is expected to assist chicken farmers, especially those in the lower to middle-income brackets in the country.
Author: Ika
Photo: The Simar team