Robot Dogs Against Wolves: Padua Project Draws Cost Criticism

A row over cost

Stefano Valdegamberi, a regional councillor for Futuro Nazionale, criticised the spending of 70,000 euros on a "robot dog". He asked what the devices are for and what results they have produced, calling the project "science fiction paid for with taxpayers' money".

The 70,000 euros is the total for the experimental project funded by the region. The expected cost of the robot dog prototype is about 5,000 euros. The project also covers integrating the deterrent systems into a mobile platform, which will be the robot.

Avoiding habituation

The team is led by professors Nicola Trivellin, Alessandro Pozzebon and Michele Scotton. Their projects are HEIMAT, funded by Veneto, and MELKEN, funded by Veneto Agricoltura, according to the University of Padua.

Traditional protections such as electric fences or acoustic devices tend to work at first and reduce attacks. But stimuli with little variety lead wolves to become habituated. The researchers are studying which visual and acoustic stimuli can make a wolf withdraw, and how to prevent habituation.

In this first phase they are testing a prototype called Remo, installed since November 2025 in a park in the province of Grosseto. Early signs are good, and the tests focus on the deterrent stimuli. The devices run on solar power.

Robot dogs would come later, carrying the light-and-sound technology across the terrain and pointing the deterrent toward wherever a wolf is detected. Their integration is planned after the deterrence tests. The initial results do not show that a robot dog already prevents attacks on flocks.