Precision at Scale:
Revolutionising Precision Optical Insect Dosing
Entocycle partnered with EnviroFlight, North America’s leading producer of insect-based ingredients, to validate our patented optical dosing technology. By integrating the Entosight Neo into EnviroFlight’s R&D Centre in North Carolina, we transitioned their operations from traditional mass-based methods to high-precision, AI-driven optical counting.
The results demonstrated a transformative shift in production efficiency, achieving a 95%+ dosing accuracy with a mean absolute error of just 4.52%. This partnership not only proved that our technology can be seamlessly deployed globally but also confirmed that precision dosing significantly improves larval yield and operational predictability.
In 2023, Entocycle collaborated with the largest producer of insect-based ingredients for animal and plant nutrition in North America, EnviroFlight, to bring our optical dosing solution, the Entosight Neo to their Research and Development Centre in North Carolina for a series of advanced trials.
Our patented insect farming technology, the Entosight Neo, utilises advanced image technology and machine learning to count and dose black soldier fly (BSF) neonates with unprecedented accuracy. The system’s integration of data analytics also enables BSF operators to identify trends, predict outcomes and make data-driven improvements to their production protocols and processes.
Conducting 24 doses across four trials, with each dose containing either 10,000 or 30,000 neonates with three replicates per dose per trial, our Entosight Neo solution consistently delivered the target number of neonates with a mean absolute percentage error of 4.52%. The neonate survival rates after five days were comparable to, or higher than, those in the control group, validating the Entosight Neo’s 95%+ dosing accuracy without affecting larvae survival rates.
Impact
By implementing this technology internationally, it not only proves it out, but the endorsement of a highly-regarded and well-known industry player, such as EnviroFlight, enhances credibility to both the Entosight Neo and Entocycle. This also emphasises that location is not a barrier, as we can transport our technology internationally.
Our collaboration with EnviroFlight is built on a shared commitment to sustainability and pioneering insect farming technologies, with the aim to cultivate a circular economy in the wider landscape.
Both Entocycle and EnviroFlight are taking materials that would otherwise be wasted, and transforming them into valuable ingredients that the world depends on daily - feed for livestock, pets and people.
Nature doesn’t believe in waste, and neither do we.
EnviroFlight’s research and engineering teams collaborated closely with our technical experts to install the Entosight Neo into their R&D facility and monitor its performance over several months. The trials evaluated key performance metrics, including neonate dosing accuracy, flow rate speed and the larvae’s survival rate post-inoculation.
To improve their existing methodology, we curated the following solutions that our Entosight Neo could achieve:
Improving population control (both number and age variability) for each tray.
Reduce labour time required to scrape and weigh eggs.
Improve production yield.
Improve larval yield with optimised nursery.
Identifies issues in hatching immediately.
Our Entosight Neo consistently delivered the target number of neonates with a mean absolute percentage error of 4.52%.
The neonate survival rates after five days were comparable to, or higher than. Those in the control group.
Both of these results validate the Entosight Neo’s 95%+ dosing accuracy without affecting larvae survival rates.