Vision system for robotic attacher

A system, comprising:

• a robotic arm on which at least one camera is attached;
• a memory that stores historical information associated with a dairy livestock, the historical information including a previously-determined location of a teat of the dairy livestock;
• a controller communicatively coupled to the memory and that instructs the robotic arm to move the camera toward the previously-determined location of the teat, wherein the camera generates an image of the teat of the dairy livestock from a position to which it is moved, and the controller determines a current location of the teat of the dairy livestock based at least in part on the image;
• wherein the previously-determined location of the teat is relative to a reference point and the reference point is relative to at least one of a hind leg of the dairy livestock or a mid-point of an udder of the dairy livestock.

A method, comprising:

• storing historical information associated with a dairy livestock, the historical information including a previously-determined location of a teat of the dairy livestock;
• moving a camera toward the previously-determined location of the teat using a robotic arm;
• using the camera to generate an image of the teat of the dairy livestock from a position to which the camera is moved;
• and
• determining a current location of the teat of the dairy livestock based at least in part on the image;
• wherein the previously-determined location of the teat is relative to a reference point and the reference point is relative to at least one of a hind leg of the dairy livestock or a mid-point of an udder of the dairy livestock.

A system, comprising:

• a robotic arm on which at least one camera is attached;
• a memory that stores historical information associated with a dairy livestock, the historical information including a previously-determined location of a teat of the dairy livestock;
• a controller communicatively coupled to the memory and that instructs the robotic arm to move the camera toward the previously-determined location of the teat, wherein the camera generates an image of the teat of the dairy livestock from a position to which it is moved, and the controller determines a current location of the teat of the dairy livestock based at least in part on the image;
• wherein the previously-determined location of the teat comprises a location of the teat during a previous milking cycle in which the udder of the dairy livestock was substantially as full of milk as a current milking cycle for the dairy livestock.