OTTR: Lely "Astronaut"
Iain Hendry
group would be interested in the technology I'm about to talk about, so
I decided to post this.
My dad, Richard, works for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Foods,
and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). Working with farmers, he gets the inside
scoop so to speak on a lot of brand-new technologies in agriculture that
I might not otherwise get to know about. One such technology is the
brand new Robotic Milking Machine, "Astronaut" by the Netherlands-based
Agriculture group LELY.
LELY's instilations thus far of their Robotic Milker have been limited
to Europe. However, just five minutes from my home in the village of
Platsville, North America's first two Robotic Milkers have been
installed at a local farm. Today, dad was invited to go and see the
device in action, and with little resistance I tagged along as well.
The machine is absolutely amazing. The main issue that LELY's engineers
had to get around (and two of them were there, and I got to talk to them
for a bit) was the fact that the device that the machine is to operate
with is an organic lifeform, a cow, which changes shape, moves, and is
alive. The machine must be very delicate yet rugged to withstand
beatings the cows might (and do) give out if they get irritated.
The "Astronaut" is essentially a box in which the cows will enter from
the left-rear via a pneumatic gate. Once they walk inside, a sensor
detects that the cow is completly inside and the door is closed. The cow
eats while the robot arm, suspended from a dual-rail system on the
right-side of the box moves into position under the cow. Pinch rollers
equiped with a sock pinch the teats, and clean them. Once this is done,
the cleaner retracts and a mirror, on the shaft of a steeper motor
begins to oscilate the mirror. A laser is used to pinpoint the exact
location of each teat. Whichever teat is known by the computer to yeild
the most milk is attached first to the cups. Milking begins, and as soon
as all four cups are attached the cleaner rollers are sprayed with a
disinfectant.
If, for any reason, a cup becomes detached during milking, the robot
will quickly re-atach it. As the cow moves in the pen, the robot moves
with it, keeping the cups positioned exactly under her udder. It is
simply breathtaking to watch this happen. The system is very quiet, and
very smooth operating. The whole machine has a very refined feel to it.
Once milking has completed for an individual teat, that cup is
retracted automatically. When all four have retracted, the robot moves
away from the cow and the front-left exit gate is opened. The cow leaves
at her own will and returns to her stall. The robot procedes through an
extensive cleansing procedure. The amount of safety and cleanliness in
which this machine exibits is, again, nothing short of perfect. It is
simply just amazing.
All axes of motion are pneumatic, except the robot's x-axis, the
sliding forward and backwards on the rail which, as far as I can tell,
is coupled to a servo motor which is engaging with the guide rail via a
friction drive. The gates are pneumatic.
The system is, without a doubt, the most efficent, safest, and best for
the cows that there is. Each cow can chose when she would like to be
milked. They adapt amazingly quickly to the system (two days average),
and in fact, love it so much that they were queued up outside of the
gate. Dad made the comment to one of the engineers from LELY that it
reminded him of waiting in line for a roller coaster (there, now I'm not
completly off topic) :^)
LELY has an offical website, which I have not visited yet but will
shortly. It's http://www.lely.com . I plan on trying to make a model of
this or something out of LEGO, but of course I will be very restricted
in my axes as the RCX only suports three outputs. It is, without a
doubt, the most spectacular use of robotic technology and automation
I've ever seen in my life.
Iain
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