Development of an Automatic System for Carrying Milking Units (Part 2)

Studies on System Components

Abstract

The carrier with frictional drive wheels didn't move well on the branch rail between two cows on the existing manual carrier rail. It was impossible to milk two cows from a milk tap due to the vacuum loss when the milking unit fell. In the next trial, the carrier was designed to run on the rail with branch-point diverters and a pair of milk tap couplers was made. These prototypes worked well, and were placed in a real tie stall barn. The reaction of cows to the motion of this carrier was studied. In addition, we clarified the design policy of a whole system containing an obstacle check sensor, a milking unit and a home position.