A robot capable of herding cattle from the pen to the processing plant has been created by beef producer Cargill Inc.

Cargill Inc. designed the cowboy robot with the twofold objective of putting cattle at ease while also protecting those working in close proximity to the large mammals.

"If a bull wants to hurt the robot, hurt the robot," said Brad Churchill, Cargill's plant operations manager at its High River, Alberta, facility. "I can repair the robot. I can't repair my employees."

Designed to mimic the actions of live human cattle drivers, the robot is outfitted with “Gumby-like arms” that usher the cattle by waving plastic bags. The three-wheeled robot also broadcasts from built-in speakers the recording of a human voice encouraging the cattle to move forward with phrases such as "Come on, let's move it" or "Hey, hey."

Churchill explained, however, that the objective of using the technology is not meant to displace workers.

"The number of people doesn't change, but now we are able to move these cattle in such a way in that we are always able to keep a gate between our people and the cattle," he said.

After several different iterations, the final version of the cowboy robot is composed of steel and weighs in at 450 pounds.

"We have yet to have an animal flip the robot, but they have moved it to the side," Churchill said.

New Jersey-based company Flock Free is manufacturing the robots for Cargill. Cargill expects to install two of the robots at each of its eight different beef plants located in both the U.S. and in Canada.