JP2009296990A - Milking robot and automatic milking method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a milking robot and an automatic milking method which capable of bringing a milking operation to be more efficient by making use of benefit of a system applied with the construction of a conventional milking unit configured to be manually installed. <P>SOLUTION: The milking robot milks teats by automatically moving a plurality of teat cups 10 one by one to a plurality of the teats of livestock. Each of the plurality of the teat cups 10 is connected to a milk claw 13 for temporarily storing the milk through a short milk tube 11, wherein the milk claw 13 is installed to be movable accompanied with the plurality of the teat cups 10 and the short milk tubes 11. To install the plurality of the teat cups 10 to the teats, the milking robot includes a first robot hand 20 for holding the milk claw 13 and moving the milk claw below the teats, and a second robot hand 30 for sequentially holding the plurality of the teat cups 10 and installing the teat cups to the teats. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a milking robot that automatically moves and attaches a plurality of teat cups to a plurality of nipples of livestock and milks milk from the nipples, and an automatic milking method using the milking robot.

  Conventionally, in a milking apparatus in which a teat cup is manually mounted on a nipple of a livestock, each of a plurality of teat cups is connected to a milk claw that temporarily stores milk via a short milk tube. The milk claw is provided so as to be movable manually with a plurality of teat cups and short milk tubes.

One milking unit is composed of a plurality of teat cups, short milk tubes, short pulse tubes and one milk claw to which they are connected. The milking unit is connected to a long milk tube and a long pulse tube, and is further connected to a milk line to collect milk.
In this milking unit, the milk claw functions as a weight in a floating state, and has an effect of pulling the teat with an appropriate load via the teat cup. According to this, the milking effect can be enhanced by giving an appropriate stimulus to the breast.

On the other hand, in the conventional milking robot, the teat cup supported on the base part of the end effector is lifted from the home position by the robot mechanism including the lift mechanism and automatically mounted on the teat. It has become.
As a milking robot having such a configuration, for example, an automatic milking machine previously proposed by the present applicant has been disclosed (see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-56142 (first page)

In such a conventional milking robot, the end effector and the plurality of teat cups supported on the base portion are configured in a one-to-one relationship. Accordingly, the operation of attaching the plurality of teat cups to the nipple by the milking robot is performed for each domestic animal. That is, the mounting operation of the teat cup is not performed until the mounting operation and the milking operation of the teat cup for that one are completed and replaced with the next one. For this reason, according to the milking robot, the stop time is very long.
Further, these conventional milking robots do not have a configuration corresponding to the aforementioned milk claw that also functions as a weight. Therefore, there is no robot mechanism that lifts and moves the part corresponding to the milk claw. That is, such a milking robot cannot use a conventional manually-fitted milking unit.

The problem to be solved regarding the milking robot and the automatic milking method is that the conventional milking unit that is manually mounted cannot be used, so the advantage of the system using the milking unit cannot be utilized, and the milking operation is made more efficient. Is in a difficult point.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a milking robot and an automatic milking method that can apply the configuration of a conventional manually-installed milking unit, take advantage of the system using the milking unit, and further improve the efficiency of milking work. It is in.

The present invention has the following configuration in order to achieve the above object.
According to one aspect of the milking robot according to the present invention, a plurality of teat cups are automatically and sequentially moved to a plurality of nipples of livestock, and a milking robot for milking the milk from the nipples, Each of the plurality of teat cups is connected to a milk claw that temporarily stores milk via a short milk tube, and the milk claw is movably provided with the plurality of teat cups and the short milk tube. In order to attach the teat cup to the nipple, a first robot hand that holds the milk claw and moves it under the breast, and sequentially holds the plurality of teat cups and attaches the teat cup to the nipple. A second robot hand to be moved is provided.

Moreover, according to one form of the milking robot concerning this invention, the said teat cup is hold | maintained so that it can rotate centering on an axial center by being hold | gripped by the said 2nd robot hand, and an axial direction is carried out. A convex peripheral portion and / or a concave peripheral portion that is in sliding contact with the hand portion of the second robot hand may be provided on the outer periphery of the shell of the teat cup so that the movement is restricted.
Moreover, according to one form of the milking robot concerning this invention, the means to hold | maintain the teat cup freely is a bearing member provided in the hand part of the said 2nd robot hand, It is characterized by the above-mentioned. be able to.
Moreover, according to one form of the milking robot concerning this invention, the said domestic animal is a dairy cow, and the four said teat cups are connected to one milk claw, It can be characterized by the above-mentioned.

Moreover, according to one form of the milking robot concerning this invention, the said 1st robot hand and said 2nd are used so that it may be used for the milking equipment in which the said domestic animal rides on the moving body and milking is performed. A robot moving device for moving a robot hand in synchronization with the moving body may be provided.
Moreover, according to one aspect of the milking robot according to the present invention, the plurality of teat cups and the one of the above-described ones are used in a milking facility of a rotary parlor system that milks by moving the plurality of domestic animals sequentially on a rotary table. A milking unit constituted by a milk claw or the like may be provided for each small room containing livestock that is divided into a plurality of parts in the circumferential direction of the rotary table.

  Moreover, according to one form of the automatic milking method concerning this invention, it is the said milking robot, Comprising 4 said teat cups which become downward when not mounting | wearing a teat, and one said milk claw An automatic milking method using a milking unit as an element, wherein the teat cup is obstructed to grip the milk claw so as to allow movement of the first robot hand to grip the milk claw Gripping with the second robot hand and lifting it upward, gripping the milk claw with the first robot hand and lifting the milking unit, and with the second robot hand, Gripping and lifting the teat cup farthest from the base of the second robot hand; and the first robot hand; The second robot hand is operated in synchronism, and the milking unit including the milk claw and the teat cup is positioned under the breast, and the second robot hand is used by the second robot hand. The step of attaching the teat cup at the farthest position to the nipple that is farthest from the base of the hand and the operation of the second robot hand to sequentially attach other teat cups to the corresponding nipple. Process.

  According to the milking robot and the automatic milking method according to the present invention, it is possible to apply the configuration of a conventional milking unit that is manually mounted, and to take advantage of the system using the milking unit, and to make the milking work more efficient. Has an effect.

Hereinafter, the best mode example of the milking robot according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings (FIGS. 1 to 4).
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of a milking robot according to the present invention. FIG. 2A is a front view of an embodiment in which a teat cup is held by a robot hand, and FIG. 2B is a plan view thereof. FIG. 3 is a front view showing another embodiment in which a teat cup is held by a robot hand. FIG. 4A is a front view of another embodiment in which the teat cup is held by the robot hand, and FIG. 4B is a plan view thereof.

This milking robot is a main part of an automatic milking device that automatically and sequentially attaches a plurality of teat cups 10 to a plurality of nipples of livestock and milks milk from the nipples.
In the following, a dairy cow (having four nipples) will be described in detail as an example of a milking robot used for the dairy cow.

  Each of the plurality of teat cups 10 is connected to a milk claw 13 for temporarily storing milk via a short milk tube 11, and the milk claw 13 is movable with the plurality of teat cups 10 and the short milk tube 11. (See FIGS. 2 and 6).

In this embodiment, one milking unit 15 includes four teat cups 10, a short milk tube 11 and a short pulse tube 12 connected to each of the teat cups 10, and one milk claw 13 to which they are connected. Is configured.
Further, the milk claw 13 of the milking unit 15 is connected to the long milk tube, the short pulse tube 12 is combined and connected to the long pulse tube, and the above long milk tube is connected to the milk line to collect milk. It is supposed to be.
The form of such a milking unit 15 is common as a structure of the milking apparatus which mounts the teat cup 10 on the nipple of livestock, and detailed description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Reference numeral 20 denotes a first robot hand, which is a form of an articulated arm robot that holds the milk claw 13 and moves it under the breast 60 (see FIG. 6) in order to attach the plurality of teat cups 10 to the nipple. is there. As the articulated arm robot, for example, a robot having at least six axes as shown in FIG. 1 may be used, and a known technique may be applied.

Reference numeral 30 denotes a second robot hand, which is a form of an articulated arm robot that sequentially holds a plurality of teat cups 10 and moves them so as to be mounted on the nipple.
The second robot hand 30 is paired with the first robot hand 20 to form a double-armed holding robot device 18.
Reference numeral 25 denotes a robot body, which is the base of a double-armed gripping robot device 18 composed of a first robot hand 20 and a second robot hand 30, and is placed on a moving carriage 26. ing. Since the movable carriage 26 is provided so as to be able to reciprocate on the rail 51, the double-armed gripping robot device 18 can reciprocate in a required section. In addition, what is necessary is just to use the arc-shaped rail 51, when installing in the milking equipment of a rotary parlor system which is mentioned later.

A nipple sensor 28 is a sensor unit for detecting the position of the nipple. As the nipple sensor 28, for example, an image processing technique may be applied.
Reference numeral 16 denotes a milking unit posture holding device, which is provided to hold the milking unit 15 in a predetermined form.
Reference numeral 35 denotes a robot control panel, and 36 denotes a main control panel, which is provided to control the operation of the robot and other milking apparatuses.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the teat cup 10 is held by the second robot hand 30 so that the teat cup 10 is rotatably held around the axis and restrained in the axial direction. A convex peripheral portion 10e (see FIG. 2) and / or a concave peripheral portion 10f (see FIG. 3) that are in sliding contact with the hand portion 31 of the second robot hand 30 are provided on the shell outer periphery of the teat cup 10.

  According to this, the gripping by the second robot hand 30 with respect to the teat cup 10 can appropriately allow the rotation about the shaft center while restricting the movement of the teat cup 10 in the axial direction. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the short milk tube 11 and the short pulse tube 12 from being twisted when the teat cup 10 is attached to the teat.

Further, the means for rotatably holding the teat cup 10 can be a bearing member provided in the hand portion 31 of the second robot hand 30. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, by incorporating a sphere 33 that freely rotates inside the hand portion 31, the bearing member is a ball bearing.
Since the frictional resistance can be reduced by arranging the bearing member in the sliding portion between the teat cup 10 and the hand portion 31 as described above, the rotation of the teat cup 10 becomes smooth. Therefore, it is possible to suitably prevent the short milk tube 11 and the short pulse tube 12 from being twisted.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, two streaky convex peripheral portions 10 e and 10 e are provided on the outer periphery of the shell of the teat cup 10, thereby guiding the sphere 33 and holding the teat cup 10 rotatably. At the same time, a guide groove 10g for restraining the movement in the axial direction is formed.
Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 3, by providing one concave peripheral portion 10f on the outer periphery of the shell of the teat cup 10, the sphere 33 is guided to hold the teat cup 10 rotatably and move in the axial direction. It is a guide groove that restrains.

Further, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the hollow cylinder 40 is fitted in the shell outer periphery of the teat cup 10 in a loosely fitted state, and the hollow cylinder 40 is gripped in a non-rotatable manner by a normal hand portion 31, so that the teat cup 10 is Holds freely. Further, by providing a flange 10h integrally on the outer periphery of the shell of the teat cup 10 located on the lower side of the hollow cylinder 40, and having a portion 10i covering the shell of the teat cup liner head on the upper side of the hollow cylinder 40, The movement of the teat cup 10 in the axial direction is restricted.
Even with such a configuration, it is possible to obtain the same effect as the above-described embodiment.

On the other hand, when the teat cup 10 is gripped by the hand portion 31 of the second robot hand 30 without being adopted as described above, the short milk tube 11 and the short pulse tube 12 are twisted. The following problems are likely to occur due to the twist.
The two types of tubes 11 and 12 are often made of a rubber material and try to return to the original posture. When the two types of tubes 11 and 12 are attached to the nipple in a twisted posture and the gripping of the hand portion 31 is released, the tubes 11 and 12 are restored to the original while twisting the nipple in reverse by the elasticity of rubber. Try to return to posture. For this reason, the nipple is now twisted, and as a result, vacuum pressure is applied to the nipple without milk coming out of the nipple. Applying vacuum pressure to the nipple without milk is not only very painful for the cow, but also adversely affects the health of the nipple.

  Furthermore, it is also conceivable that the teat cup 10 can be rotated without strongly gripping the outer periphery of the shell of the teat cup 10 during the mounting operation by the hand portion 31 of the second robot hand 30. However, in this case, there is a risk that the teat cup 10 may fall off the hand portion 31 during the upward lifting operation and may fail to be mounted on the nipple.

  As described above, 51 is a rail, and 26 is a moving carriage. These are robots that move the first robot hand 20 and the second robot hand 30 in synchronism with the moving body so as to be used in a milking facility in which milking is performed in a state where livestock are on the moving body. It is provided as a component of the moving device 50.

An example of a rotary parlor type milking facility using a milking robot having such a robot moving device 50 will be described below. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of a rotary parlor type milking facility.
In this embodiment, a milking unit 15 constituted by a plurality of teat cups 10, one milk claw 13, and the like so as to be used in a rotary parlor type milking facility that sequentially moves a plurality of livestock on a rotary table 55 and milks them. Is arranged for each small room 56 in which livestock is provided divided into a plurality in the circumferential direction of the rotary table 55.
The shape of the rail 51 is formed in an arc shape along the outer periphery of the rotary table 55, and the above-described double-armed gripping robot device 18 is provided so as to be able to reciprocate in a required section on the rail 51. Yes.

According to this, while the milk cow 65 is being milked sequentially, the milking unit 15 by the double-armed holding robot device 18 (the robot device having the first robot hand 20 and the second robot hand 30). Can be attached one after another to the nipples of the dairy cows 65 coming later. That is, it is only necessary to provide one double-armed gripping robot device 18 for a large number of milking units 15, and the operation efficiency of the robot can be increased.
And since the milking unit 15 can be attached to the cows 65 in this manner, the milking efficiency can be dramatically improved.

Next, the usage method (automatic milking method) of a milking robot provided with the above structure is demonstrated based on an accompanying drawing (FIGS. 6-8).
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an embodiment of the automatic milking method according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a process subsequent to the process shown in FIG. Moreover, FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the work process which shows the example of the form of the automatic milking method which concerns on this invention.
The present embodiment is a milking robot described above, and is an automatic using a milking unit 15 having four teat cups 10 and a milk claw 13 as constituent elements when they are not attached to the nipple. Milking method.

Hereinafter, the teat cup handling flow (FIG. 8) will be described in contrast to FIG. 6 and FIG.
(1) The milk claw 13 is placed so that the teat cup shell faces downward. One of the two arms of the robot is equipped with a milk claw gripping hand (first robot hand 20), and the other is equipped with a teat cup gripping hand (second robot hand 30).
(2) Hold the teat cup 10 </ b> C that is in the way to grip the milk claw 13 with the second robot hand 30 so as to allow the operation of the first robot hand 20 that grips the milk claw 13. Lift it up (see Fig. 6).
(3) The milk claw 13 is gripped by the first robot hand 20 (see FIG. 6), and the milking unit 15 is lifted. Since the teat cup 10 </ b> C is lifted by the second robot hand 30, the first robot hand 20 can move and operate appropriately without interference and can grip the milk claw 13.
(4) Open the second robot hand 30 to release the teat cup 10C grasped in the above (2), and make the four teat cups 10A to 10D hang from the milk claw 13.

(5) Grab the teat cup 10A to be mounted first with the second robot hand 30 and point it upward. At this time, the second robot hand 30 grips and lifts the teat cup 10A located farthest from the base of the second robot hand 30.
(6) The milk claw 13 and the teat cup 10 are configured by operating the first robot hand 10 and the second robot hand 20 in synchronism so that the distance between the teat cup 10A facing upward and the milk claw 13 does not change. The milking unit 15 as an element is located under the breast 60.
(7) Mount the teat cup 10A facing upward on the first teat 61 (see FIG. 7). If the attachment is successful, the second robot hand 30 is opened and the arm is retracted.
At this time, the teat cup 10A at the farthest position is attached to the teat 61 at the farthest position from the base of the second robot hand 30 by the second robot hand 30. By mounting in this way, when the other teat cups 10B to D, which are subsequent processes, are sequentially mounted on the corresponding nipples 62 to 64, the first teat cup 10A is operated by the second robot hand 30. It does not get in the way. Therefore, the plurality of teat cups 10 </ b> A to 10 </ b> D can be smoothly attached to the corresponding nipples 61 to 64 only by performing the work in such a procedure.

(8) Grasp the second teat cup 10B, change the direction upward, and attach it to the second teat 62. If the attachment is successful, the second robot hand 30 is opened and the arm is retracted.
(9) Grasp the third teat cup 10C, change the direction upward, and attach it to the third teat 63. If the attachment is successful, the second robot hand 30 is opened and the arm is retracted.
(10) Grasp the fourth teat cup 10D, change the direction upward, and attach it to the fourth teat 64. If the attachment is successful, the second robot hand 30 is opened and the arm is retracted.

(11) Open the first robot hand 20 holding the milk claw 13 and retract the milk claw arm. Thereby, the milk claw 13 functions as a weight and can enhance the milking effect.
Through the above steps, one cycle of the operation of attaching the four teat cups 10A to 10D to the corresponding teats 61 to 64 is completed, and by repeating this, the milking units can be sequentially attached to a large number of cows 65.

In this embodiment, the rotary parlor is used, but other parlor types such as a parallel parlor may be used.
As described above, the present invention has been described in various ways with preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. That's it.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the form of the milking robot which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the form example of the grip of the teat cup by a robot hand. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other holding | grip form of the teat cup by a robot hand. It is explanatory drawing which shows the other holding | grip form of the teat cup by a robot hand. It is a top view which shows the example of a form of milking equipment of a rotary parlor system. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the form example of the automatic milking method which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the process after the process shown in FIG. It is a flowchart of the work process which shows the form example of the automatic milking method which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Teat cup 11 Short milk tube 12 Short pulse tube 13 Milk claw 15 Milking unit 18 Double-armed holding robot device 20 First robot hand 21 Hand part 25 Robot main body 26 Moving carriage 30 Second robot hand 31 Hand part 33 Sphere 50 Robot moving device 51 Rail 55 Rotary table 56 Komuro 60 Breast 61-64 Nipple 65 Dairy cow

Claims (7)

A milking robot for automatically moving and mounting a plurality of teat cups on a plurality of nipples of domestic animals and milking milk from the nipples,
Each of the plurality of teat cups is connected to a milk claw that temporarily stores milk via a short milk tube, and the milk claw is provided movably with the plurality of teat cups and the short milk tube,
In order to attach the plurality of teat cups to the nipple, a first robot hand that holds the milk claw and moves it under the breast, and sequentially holds the plurality of teat cups and attaches them to the nipple. A milking robot characterized by comprising a second robot hand that moves in the manner described above.   The teat cup is held by the second robot hand so that the teat cup is held rotatably around the axis and is restrained from moving in the axial direction. The milking robot according to claim 1, wherein a convex peripheral portion and / or a concave peripheral portion that is in sliding contact with a hand portion of the second robot hand is provided.   The milking robot according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the means for rotatably holding the teat cup is a bearing member provided in a hand portion of the second robot hand.   The milking robot according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the domestic animal is a dairy cow, and the four teat cups are connected to one milk claw.   Movement of a robot that moves the first robot hand and the second robot hand in synchronism with the moving body so as to be used in a milking facility where milking is performed with the livestock riding on the moving body The milking robot according to claim 1, further comprising a device.   A milking unit constituted by the plurality of teat cups and the one milk claw is used for a milking facility of a rotary parlor system that sequentially moves a plurality of the livestock on a rotary table and milks the rotary table. The milking robot according to claim 5, wherein the milking robot is arranged for each small room containing livestock divided into a plurality in the circumferential direction. The milking robot according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the milking unit includes four teat cups that face downward when not mounted on a teat and one milk claw. An automatic milking method used,
In order to allow the first robot hand to grip the milk claw, the teat cup that is in the way of gripping the milk claw is gripped by the second robot hand and turned upward. Lifting process,
Gripping the milk claw with the first robot hand and lifting the milking unit;
Gripping and lifting the teat cup farthest from the base of the second robot hand with the second robot hand; and
Activating the first robot hand and the second robot hand in synchronism, and positioning a milking unit comprising the milk claw and the teat cup as components;
Attaching the teat cup at the farthest position to the nipple at the furthest position from the base of the second robot hand by the second robot hand;
An automatic milking method comprising: sequentially attaching other teat cups to corresponding nipples by operating the second robot hand.

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