Dairy animal treatment system
AssigneeLely Patent N.V.
InventorsKarel Van Den Berg, Dik-Jan Wisse, Paulus Jacobus Maria Van Adrichem
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is provided a method and system for connecting a teat cup (4) to a first teat (1) of an udder (3). In connecting, a first reference position (10) on the first teat (1) is taken for connecting, until that reference position (10) is covered by the teat cup (4), or is otherwise no longer observed. Then, a further reference position (11) on the udder is taken for tracking movements by the dairy animal. Thus the optimum reference position (10) is used for connecting, while when this optimum position is no longer available, a further reference position (11) is taken.
Claims13
Method for automatically connecting an object to a teat of an udder of a milking animal, by means of a milking robot with a robot arm and a position determining device for determining reference positions on the animal with respect to one of a teat cup and the robot arm, the method comprising the steps of
- a) determining a first reference position of a part of the first teat to which an object is to be connected, wherein the object is a teat cup,
- b) positioning the teat cup below said teat by means of the robot arm and on the basis of the first reference position
- c) moving the teat cup onto the teat,
- wherein the first reference position is observed and tracked during step b) and/or c) characterized by the steps of
- d) determining a further reference position of another part of said udder with respect to one of the teat cup, the robot arm and the first reference position, and
- e) tracking said further reference position while the first reference position is not being observed with at least a predetermined accuracy or reliability, and performing the moving of the teat cup on the basis of the tracked further reference position.
System for automatically connecting an object to a teat of an udder of a milking animal, comprising a milking robot with a robot arm and with teat cups, and a position determining device for determining reference positions on the animal with respect to one of a teat cup and the robot arm, the system being arranged to perform the method according to any preceding claim.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.