Rear-Mounted Robotic Attacher Layout for Shared Milking Boxes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dairy milking systems are inefficient and costly due to the need for separate robotic attachers for each milking box, limiting scalability and increasing operational expenses.
Innovation Solution
A milking box system with a robotic attacher positioned at the rear, allowing two boxes to share a wall and a single attacher, reducing costs and enabling side-by-side placement, while also allowing for improved cow sorting and entry/exit capabilities through side gates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a robotic attacher is positioned at the side of each milking box, then each box can independently attach milking equipment, but the cost increases and scalability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the robotic attacher function across multiple milking boxes by positioning a single robotic attacher at the rear wall to serve adjacent boxes. This consolidation reduces the total number of robotic attachers needed while maintaining the ability to service multiple boxes, directly addressing the contradiction between independent capability and system complexity/cost.
Solution Approach 2:
The robotic attacher is designed with universal functionality to serve multiple milking boxes from a single location. By positioning it at the rear wall with access to adjacent boxes, it performs the same attachment function for multiple different boxes, reducing redundancy and overall system complexity while preserving operational independence.
2Device complexity
If milking boxes are positioned side-by-side to share resources, then cost is reduced, but access for robotic attacher must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions the robotic attacher from a side-mounted configuration to a rear-mounted configuration. This dimensional change allows adjacent milking boxes to be positioned side-by-side while the robotic attacher accesses them from the rear, maintaining service capability while enabling tighter spatial arrangement and resource sharing between boxes.
3Adaptability or versatility
If gates are positioned on each side of the milking box, then sorting capabilities are improved, but the configuration becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves gate functionality from side walls to the front wall configuration, allowing cows to enter and exit through the front while the robotic attacher operates from the rear. This spatial reorganization maintains versatile sorting capabilities through front wall gate control while simplifying the overall structure by eliminating the need for complex side gate mechanisms.
Data Source
Figure 1A
Figure 1B~2
Figure 3
AI summary
In certain embodiments, a system includes a front wall (124a), a rear wall positioned (124c) substantially parallel to the front wall (124a), and first and second side walls (124b, 124d) each extending between the front wall (124a) and the rear wall (124c). The first side wall includes a gate, and the second side wall is spaced apart from the first side wall such that the front wall, the rear wall, the first side wall, and the second side wall define a milking box stall of a size sufficient to accommodate a dairy livestock. The system includes an equipment portion (128) located adjacent to the rear wall. The equipment portion (128) houses a robotic attacher configured to extend between the rear legs of a dairy livestock located within the milking box stall (122) in order to attach milking equipment to the dairy livestock.