NL2004271C2 - Automatic milking machine and method for milking animals automatically. - Google Patents

Description

Automatic milking machine and method for milking animals automatically

The invention relates to an automatic milking machine for cows, comprising gripper means for picking up and placing milking cups on the said cow's teats. The invention further relates to a method for milking cows automatically by operating 5 such a milking machine, comprising gripper means for picking up and placing milking cups on the said cow's teats, wherein the position of the cow's teats are first determined and the milking cups are subsequently placed on the cow's teats, coming from behind and in-between the legs of the animal.

10 Automatic milking machines are known from the prior art, notably from WO2007/142586, WOOO/13492 and WO97/37530.

These milking machines all operate in a manner that the animals are milked after placing the milking cups from the side of the animal.

15 A method and milking machine for milking an animal from behind and in-between the legs of the animal is disclosed in W098/35547.

WO2007/142586 teaches an arrangement for attaching teat cups to the teats of a milking cow, whilst the milking cows are 20 standing on a rotary platform. In this arrangement means are used to grip the teat cups and place them on the cow's teats whilst the cow that is standing on the rotary platform is moved through a predefined area adjacent to where the arrangement is positioned. Absent any specific disclosure to the contrary it 25 appears that the exact placement of the teat cups requires the eye of a laborer.

WOOO/13492 teaches a milking robot having a robot arm with a distal end that is provided with tube guide means for the milk tubes, whereby the tube guide means are provided in order 30 to prevent that the milk tubes are touched by the cow being milked. There is no disclosure of the manner in which the placement of the teat cups is carried out.

WO97/37530 concerns an adjusting mechanism for adjusting the rotational speed of a rotary floor of a milking machine 35 on which the cows are standing whilst they are being milked. A milking robot is arranged close to where the cow or cows are standing, yet it is not disclosed how a secure positioning of 2 the teat cups to the cow's teats is carried out.

W098/35547 relates to an automatic milking machine for goats, comprising gripper means for picking up and placing milking cups on said goats' teats, and detection means for estab-5 lishing the position of the goats' teats, whereby the gripper means operate in dependence of the position of the goats' teats as measured by the detection means. As the person skilled in the art knows goats only have two teats, which makes the positioning of the milking cups on the teats quite straightforward. In par-10 ticular there is no specific hardship in locating the area in which the teats are to be found. Accordingly there is no specific requirement to take into account that restricts the type of detector that may be used for determining the position of the teats .

15 The instant invention deals with the automatic milking of cows and in this respect it is pointed out that it would be illogical to implement the teaching of W098/35547 in an automatic milking machine for cows, in view of the fact that cows do not have two teats but four. This makes the localization of the 20 cow's teats rather cumbersome, particularly due to the fact that the front teats may have quite a different position with respect to each other than the back teats do. This difference in position may cause that when approaching the cow from behind with the device of W098/35547, the problem occurs that the front 25 teats may go unnoticed due to their being in the 'shadow' of the back teats, thus causing that it is not possible to position the gripper means for placement of the milking cups on the front teats.

It is an object of the invention to provide a method 30 and milking machine by which a fully automatic milking operation is possible without any human intervention, and wherein the above problems are alleviated or removed.

The milking machine and method for automatically milking cows are in accordance with the invention provided with the 35 features of one or more of the appended claims.

In a first and broadest aspect the milking machine of the invention has detection means embodied as a laser and a camera that are swivable with respect to the horizontal plane in order to define at least in part the view direction of the laser 40 and camera. This makes it possible to use the technique of triangulation for determining the position of the cow's teats, 3 whilst the view direction of the laser and camera to be used for establishing a teat's position can be adjusted as required depending for instance on the specific position of the front teats with respect to the back teats of the cow. In this way the prob-5 lem is circumvented that the front teats may be located in the 'shadow' of the back teats which would without the measures of the invention cause that the front teats cannot be detected and would go unnoticed.

A preferred embodiment which obviates the need to im-10 plement separate motorization of the laser and camera to enable that these elements are swivable in the horizontal plane, is embodied with the laser and camera mounted on a movable base, and the movable base mounted on a support to which it is hingingly connected such that the movable base is swivable with respect to 15 the support in the horizontal plane. This makes it possible to define at least in part the view direction of the laser and camera in a single operation by moving the base. If required the laser and camera may further be rotationally mounted on the movable base, but this can normally be dispensed with.

20 In order to locate the front teats one can with the just mentioned preferred embodiment simply arrange that the swivable base is placed at an angular position with respect to its support in dependence of the position of one or more of the cow's back teats as measured by the laser and the camera.

25 It is further possible to mount the gripper means on a separate support, however for ease of design and operation of the milking machine of the invention it is preferred that the gripper means is mounted on the movable base, and that said gripper means has a frontal area of operation which lies in the 30 view direction of the laser and the camera.

For arranging the best mode of a fully automatic milking operation with the milking machine of the invention, it is desirable that the movable base and/or the support on which it is mounted is/are provided with driving means to establish an 35 angular position of the movable base with respect to the support, which driving means operate in dependence of the position of one or more of the cow's teats, particularly the back teats, as measured by the laser and the camera.

The method and milking machine of the invention will 40 hereinafter be further elucidated with reference to a schematic drawing of an exemplary embodiment of a milking machine accord- 4 ing to the invention.

In the drawing: -figure la, lb and lc show top sectional views of a part of a typical milking machine according to the invention op-5 erating on a cow standing in front of the milking machine; -figure 2a, 2b, and 2c show in side view, and two different perspective views respectively, the movable base of the milking machine of the invention shown in figure 1, on which base the laser, the camera, and the gripper means are mounted.

10 Referring first to figure la, lb and lc the operational part of an automatic milking machine for cows is shown which is generally denoted with reference 1, and which comprises gripper means 2 for picking up and placing milking cups 3 on a cow's back teats 4 and/or front teats 5 that are at the underside of 15 an udder 6. Figures la, lb and lc further show the hindlegs 8 of the cow. The gripper means 2 operate in dependence of the position of the cow's teats 4, 5 as measured by detection means that are embodied with a laser and a camera that are mounted in the shown embodiment on a movable base 7. It is however also possi-20 ble to obviate the movable base 7, and arrange that the laser and camera are rotationally mounted on a support in order to provide them with an angular orientation in the horizontal plane.

In the shown embodiment however, the movable base 7 is 25 mounted on a support 9, in the shown case an arm, to which the base 7 is hingingly connected so as to arrange that the movable base 7 is swivable with respect to the support 9 in the horizon tal plane and to define in this way at least in part the view direction of the laser and camera. This is more clearly shown in 30 figures 2a, 2b and 2c, wherein the laser is denoted with reference 10, the camera is denoted with reference 11 and the view direction is denoted with reference 13.

Figures 2a, 2b and 2c, in particular figures 2b and 2c also clearly show that the gripper means 2 is mounted on the 35 movable base 7, and that said gripper means 2 have a frontal area 12 (see figure 2c) of operation which lies in the view direction 13 of the laser 10 and the camera 11.

It is further preferred that the movable base 7 and/or the support 9 on which the base 7 is mounted is/are provided 40 with driving means (not shown) to establish an angular position of the movable base 7 with respect to the support 9, which driv- 5 ing means operate in dependence of the position of at least one of the cow's teats 4, 5 as measured by the laser 10 and the camera 11.

From the above description which is intended to eluci-5 date the invention and remove any possible ambiguity of the appended claims, it will be clear that many variations to the above example are possible within the scope of the appended claims and without departing from using the inventive merit as embodied in these claims. The appended claims must therefore not 10 be considered restricted to the above example, but must be given the broadest possible meaning that the invention merits in relation to the existing prior art at the time of filing of the application .

Claims (5)

An automatic milking machine for cows, comprising gripping means (2) for picking up and placing teat cups (3) on the teats (4, 5) of the cow, and detection means (10, 11) for determining the position of the teats ( 4, 5) of the cow, 5 wherein the gripping means (2) are operative in dependence on the position of the teats (4, 5) as measured with the detection means (10, 11), characterized in that the detection means (10 11) comprise a laser (10) and a camera (11) pivotable with respect to the horizontal plane in order to at least partially control the viewing direction (13) of the laser (10) and camera (11) determine. 2. Automatic milking machine for cows according to claim 1, characterized in that the laser (10) and camera (11) are mounted on a movable base (7), and that the movable base (7) is mounted on a support (9) to which the base (7) is hingedly connected to cause the movable base (7) to be pivotable in the horizontal plane with respect to the support (9) in order to at least partially control the viewing direction (13) of the laser (10) and camera (11). Automatic milking machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the gripper means (2) are mounted on the movable base (7), and that said gripper means (2) have a frontal working area (12) which in the viewing direction ( 13) lies away from the laser (10) and camera (11). Automatic milking machine according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the movable base (7) and / or the support (9) on which it is mounted is / are provided with drive means for determining an angular position of the movable base (7) relative to the support (9), which drive means 30 are operative depending on the position of at least one of the teats (4, 5) of the cow as measured with the laser (10) and camera (11). 5. Method for automatically milking cows by operating a milking machine, comprising gripping means (2) for picking up and placing teat cups (3) on the teats (4, 5) of the cow, the position of the teats (4, 5. of the cow are determined with detection means (10, 11) forming part of the milking machine, and the teat cups (3) from behind and between the legs (8) of the cow with the gripping means be placed (2) on the teats (4, 5) of the cow, the action of the gripper means (2) being dependent on the position of one or more of the teats (4, 5) as measured with the detec-5 means (10, 11), characterized in that for the detection means (10, 11) use is made of a laser (10) and a camera (11) and that the laser (10), the camera (11) and optionally the gripper means (2) are pivotable in the horizontal plane relative to a support (9) for said laser (10), camera (11) 10 and gripper means (2) to an angle with respect to direction of the support (9) depending on the position of one or more of the cow's teats (4, 5) as measured with the laser (10) and camera (11).