Honorable Mention 2018 / Other Products designs / Student

Roost

• Lead Designer
  Ken Macalino
• Design Team
  Ken Macalino, Jason Russell, Dylan Russell
• Project Link
  view
• University
  Savannah College of Art and Design

Roost is a set of automated robot arms that scans fertilized chicken eggs for their gender. It is designed to counter the practice of chick culling in the egg industry. Male chicks cannot lay eggs and are gruesomely disposed of, often via grinder, because hatcheries have no other use for them. Roost is designed with in-ovo sexing technology that can both identify and separate male chicks from an egg batch before they hatch. This mitigates the brutality of chick culling and allows the eggs to be used for more utilitarian purposes, like creating influenza vaccines or cleaning products.