Adaptive Positioning Aid for Robot Milking Animal Calmness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robot milking systems require unnecessary time and effort to fit brackets for smaller or agitated animals, limiting their freedom of movement and causing stress during the milking process.
Innovation Solution
A robot milking system with a positioning aid that automatically adapts to new or agitated animals, using a control system to activate a positioning aid that provides a soothing effect and limits movement, allowing efficient teat location without physical confinement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If brackets are fitted to calm agitated or new animals, then the animal calmness and positioning is improved, but the animal freedom of movement is limited and the fitting process takes unnecessary time
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing it to adapt dynamically between an inactive state (away from the animal) and an active state (against the animal). This dynamic positioning enables the system to provide calming support only when needed, while maintaining animal freedom of movement during normal operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system changes the positional parameter of the bracket based on animal identification. For new or agitated animals, the bracket is activated to provide calming support. For other animals, the bracket remains inactive, preserving their freedom of movement. This parameter-based control resolves the contradiction by applying restraint only when necessary.
2Manufacturing precision
If brackets are fitted to all animals, then positioning is standardized, but the time and effort for fitting increases unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically identifies animals using animal recognition devices and autonomously decides whether to activate the positioning bracket based on the animal's identity and history. This self-service approach eliminates manual fitting operations, reducing time and effort while maintaining positioning accuracy for animals that need it.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system pre-determines whether an animal needs the positioning bracket based on stored data about the animal's previous behavior and characteristics. This preliminary assessment avoids unnecessary bracket fitting for animals that are already calm and well-positioned, saving time while ensuring accurate positioning when required.
3Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If brackets are used to limit animal movement, then teat location becomes easier, but the animal stress increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket provides localized positioning support specifically at the rear end of the animal, where it is most effective for teat location. This localized approach minimizes the overall restriction of animal movement and reduces stress compared to full-body confinement, while still providing sufficient guidance for accurate teat detection and milking.
Data Source
AI summary
A robot milking system, including: at least one milking box; milking apparatus; a robot arm configured to connect the milking apparatus to a milking animal; an animal recognition device configured to automatically determine an identity of the milking animal; a control system configured to control the robot milking system; and a positioning aid configured to determine a position of the milking animal in the milking box, where: the positioning aid is movable by the control system between an inactive state away from the milking animal and an active state up against the milking animal, the positioning aid is in the active state at least when the milking apparatus is connected to the milking animal, and the control system is configured to bring the positioning aid into the active state as a function of the identity determined by the animal recognition device.