A robot wolf designed to protect farms has proved to be a success that its now going to mass produce by next month.

The robot is a 65cm-long, 50cm-tall robot animal covered with realistic looking fur with huge white fangs and flashing red eyes, Asahi television reports.

The whole point for the design was to keep wild boar away from rice and chestnut crops, and was deployed on a trial basis near Kisarazu City in Japan’s eastern Chiba prefecture last July.

When it detects an approaching animal, its eyes light up red and it starts to howl. The robot uses a solar-rechargeable batteries and has a range of howling noises so that animals don’t get used to it.

Japan agricultural cooperatives say that crop losses have noticeably decreased in areas  where the monster wolf has been present. Before, farmers around Kisarazu were resigned to giving up at least part of their crops to wild boar every year.

The Chiba Nippo news website, has said that the agricultural cooperative says that the device has a radius of about one kilometer, saying that its more effective than an electric fence.

The robot is now going into mass production with each costing 514,000 yen ($4,840) each, but there are other options for farmers to pay a far cheaper monthly lease on a wolf instead.

Credit: BBC News