Implement for automatically milking animals

Abstract

An apparatus for automatically milking animals, is provided with a milking robot which includes a robot arm that carries teat cups, each teat cup being carried in its own housing in a supporting element in the robot arm. When the teat cups are in an inoperative position, the openings on their upper sides are shielded by the supporting element. Each robot arm portion comprises a plurality of housings, one for each teat cup. Piston and cylinder members are disposed in each housing to move the teat cups from their shielded inoperative position to an open operative position under the teats of the animal to be milked and then upwardly to connect the teat cups to the teats of the animal to be milked. Thereafter the supporting element is lowered and the teat cups which remain on the teats are connected thereto only by flexible members. When the milking of each udder quarter is about completed, each teat cup is pulled against a shoe disposed to receive it in its individual housing by a piston and cylinder device in the housing. Placement of the teat cups on the animal's teats is controlled by a computer guided by two cameras mounted on the supporting element which are pointed towards the animal's teats in different angular directions and which include at least one infrared sensitive camera.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.