SIH26109HardwareAgriculture, FoodTech & Rural Development
₹1,50,000 Prize (₹75k Joint)
•Deadline: 20 September 2026
•Submitted Ideas: 0/500
Al-Based Predictive Modelling for Early Forecasting of Bovine Mastitis in lndian Dairy Farms
Ministry / Organization: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying
Department: Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying
Technical Complexity
8/10
Dataset Accessibility
7/10
36h Hackathon Viability
9/10
Step 0 • Zero-Jargon Layman Summary
“This project aims to build an early-warning system for dairy farmers to detect udder infections in cows before they become visible. By combining sensor data from the animal and farm environment with smart software, the system alerts farmers to take action early, saving milk production and reducing the need for heavy antibiotics.”
The DecodeX PS Decoder™
Deconstructed Problem Blueprint
Step 1
WHAT TO BUILD?
An integrated IoT-based hardware-software ecosystem comprising wearable/in-line sensors and an AI-driven predictive analytics platform.
Step 2
WHO IS IT FOR?
Primary: Dairy farmers and cooperatives. Secondary: Veterinarians, animal health authorities, and government livestock departments.
Step 3
WHY DOES IT EXIST?
Mastitis is currently detected only after clinical symptoms appear, leading to irreversible tissue damage, massive milk yield loss, and excessive antibiotic use which contributes to antimicrobial resistance.
Step 4
INPUT → PROCESS → OUTPUT ARCHITECTURE PIPELINE
01 • Inputs & Telemetry
IoT sensor data (milk conductivity, pH, temperature), wearable data (activity, rumination), historical health records, and environmental/hygiene logs.
02 • Processing & AI Core
Time-series forecasting models (LSTM/GRU/Transformers) to detect anomalies in physiological patterns, correlation analysis of environmental factors, and risk-scoring algorithms.
03 • Actionable Deliverables
Real-time risk alerts (SMS/App), actionable veterinary intervention suggestions, herd-level heatmaps, and digital health records.
Step 5
CONSTRAINTS
- Must operate in low-connectivity rural areas (offline-first architecture).
- Hardware must be rugged, waterproof, and low-cost for smallholder farmers.
- Multilingual support for local Indian dialects.
- Battery life optimization for long-term field deployment.
Step 6
JURY METRICS
- Prediction lead time (target: 7-14 days before clinical onset).
- Sensitivity and Specificity of the ML model.
- False Alarm Rate (critical for farmer trust).
- Cost-per-unit for hardware deployment.
Step 7
CORE BOTTLENECK
Data scarcity and noise: Obtaining high-quality, labeled longitudinal data for subclinical mastitis in Indian breeds is extremely difficult, making model training a significant hurdle.
Why You Should Choose This PS (Pros)
- High social and economic impact on the Indian rural economy.
- Clear alignment with national 'Digital India' and 'Livestock Health' missions.
- Hardware-software integration provides a strong 'wow' factor for judges.
Challenges & Risks to Watch (Cons)
- Hardware prototyping is time-consuming and prone to failure during live demos.
- Lack of standardized, public datasets for Indian bovine health.
- Integration with existing legacy farm management systems is complex.
Hackathon Blueprint
Recommended Tech Stack & Grand Finale Features
Frontend & Mobile
Flutter (for cross-platform mobile)React.js (for web dashboard)
Backend & APIs
FastAPIPythonMQTT for IoT messaging
AI / ML & Models
XGBoost/LightGBM for tabular dataLSTM for time-series anomaly detectionTensorFlow Lite for edge inference
Database & Cloud
InfluxDB (for time-series sensor data)PostgreSQL (for relational health records)
Killer Features to Impress the SIH Jury
Offline-first sync: System stores data locally and syncs when network is available.
Explainable AI (XAI): Providing 'Why' the risk score is high (e.g., 'High conductivity + low rumination detected').
Gamified farmer dashboard: Simple color-coded health status (Green/Yellow/Red) for quick decision-making.
Low-cost DIY sensor kit: A modular design that can be assembled for under ₹2000.
View Official SIH 2026 Portal Raw Text▼
•Background Bovine mastitis is one of the most prevalent and economically significant diseases affecting dairy cattle and buffaloes in lndia. The disease adversely impacts milk production, milk quality,animal health, and farm profitability, while also increasing treatment costs and antimicrobial usage. Despite its substantial economic and public health implications, mastitis is often detected only after clinical signs become apparent, limiting opportunities for timely intervention and prevention.The increasing adoption of digital dairy technologies, including automated milking systems,livestock monitoring devices, milk quality sensors, farm management softlvare, and environmental monitoring Systems, presents an opportunity to leverage Artificial lntelligence(Al), Machine Learning (ML), and Internet of Things (loT) technologies for early disease prediction and risk-based herd management.
•Problem Statement Develop an integrated Al-enabled predictive forecasting system capable of identifying and predicting the risk of bovine mastitis at both individual animal and herd levels before the onset of clinical disease.The proposed solution should utilize real-time and historical farm data from multiple sources to generate early warning alerts, risk scores, and actionable recommendations for dairy farmers, veterinarians, dairy cooperatives, and animal health authorities. The system should support continuous monitoring, disease forecasting, and evidence-based decision-making to reduce disease incidence and associated economic losses.
•Expected Solution The solution should be capable of:
1.Predicting mastitis risk at least 7-14 days before the appearance of clinical signs.
2.Generating animal-wise and herd-level risk assessments.
3.lntegrating data from sensors, farm management systems, laboratory records, and manual inputs.
4.Providing real-time alerts and notifications to farmers and veterinarians.
5.Continuously improving prediction accuracy through Al/ML-based learning models.
6.Supporting data-driven decision-making through user-friendly dashboards and visualization tools.
7.Recommending preventive and corrective interventions based on identified risk factors.
8.Supporting multilingual and mobile-enabled deployment for field-level adoption.
•Data Parameters for Analysis The system should be capable of analysing and conelating multiple risk factors associated with mastitis occurrence, including:
•Animal health and treatment records and herd strength
•For individual level breed, age lactation number, disease history and vaccination status
•Milk yield and milk quality parameters
•Somatic Cell Count (SCC) and related indicators
•Body temperature, aclivity levels, and rumination behaviour
•Environmental, hygiene of the farm and climatic conditions
•Feeding and nutritional practices
•Housing conditions and farm management practices
•Milking procedures and operational schedules
•Previous disease history and co-morbidities
•Worker hygiene and health-related risk factors Based on the analysis, the system may classify animals into risk categories such as:
•No Risk
•Low Risk
•Moderate Risk
•High Risk
•Solution Components
•Hardware Component- The hardware component may include:
•loT-enabled sensors for monitoring milk conductivity, milk temperature, pH, milk yield,and other relevant indicators.
•Wearable or collar-based devices for monitoring body temperature, udder surface temperature, activity, rumination, feeding behaviour, and physiological parameters.
•Wireless communication through Bluetooth, W-Fi, GSM, NB-loT, LoRa, or equivalent technologies.
•Battery-operated or solar-powered deployment suitable for field conditions.
•GPS-enabled geo-tagging of animal and farm data.
•Rugged, low-cost, and farmer-friendly designs suitable for lndian dairy production systems.
•Software Component The software platform should include:
•Al and machine learning models for mastitis risk prediction and forecasting.
•Mobile applications for farmers, veterinarians, and field personnel.
•Cloud-based data storage, integration, and analytics
•Algorithms to predict subclinical mastitis with SCC.
•Real-time herd health monitoring dashboards.
•Early warning and notification systems through mobile alerts, SMS, or other communication channels.
•Decision-support tools providing recommendations on animal health management, milking hygiene, nutrition, biosecurity, and veterinary interventions.
•GIS-based visualization of disease trends, hotspots, and risk clusters.
•Expected Deliverables
•Functional prototype of the integrated mastitis forecasting system.
•Al-based predictive analytics engine with demonstrated forecasting capability.
•Mobile application and user interface for field deployment.
•Cloud-based dashboard and data management platform.
•Early warning and notification module.
•Hardware prototype incorporating sensor-based data acquisition.
•Demonstration and validation of predictive performance under field conditions.
•Expected Outcomes and lmpact The successful solution is expected to:
•Enable early detection and prevention of bovine mastitis both at individual level and herd level.
•Reduce milk production losses and treatment costs.
•lmprove milk quality, safety, and marketability.
•Reduce indiscriminate antimicrobial usage and support antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mitigation efforts.
•lmprove animal welfare, productivity, and longevity.
•Promote precision livestock farming and digital dairy management.
•Enhance the profitability and resilience of dairy farmers.
•Contribute to the development of a data-driven livestock health surveillance ecosystem in lndia.
•lnnovation Challenge The solution should be affordable, scalable, interoperable, and easy to deploy across diverse dairy production systems, including smallholder farms, dairy cooperatives, organized farms,and commercial dairy enterprises. Particular emphasis should be placed on low-cost implementation, ease of use, multilingual accessibility, data security, and predictive accuracy under lndian field conditions.