Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

[Posted October 24, 2005 by ris]

LinuxDevices takes a look at a Linux-powered robotic cow-milking system. "A 122-year-old dairy equipment company has used embedded Linux in a robotic cow-milking system (the system is robotic, not the cows). The Voluntary Milking System (VMS) allows cows to decide when to be milked, and gives dairy farmers a more independent lifestyle, free from regular milkings, the company says."

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 24, 2005 20:20 UTC (Mon) by arcticwolf (guest, #8341) [Link]

No robotic cows? Damn. There goes my plan for world domination.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 24, 2005 20:27 UTC (Mon) by cook (subscriber, #4) [Link] (4 responses)

Someone out there really should port the Voluntary Milking System (VMS)
to a Vax.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 24, 2005 22:28 UTC (Mon) by stumbles (guest, #8796) [Link]

Well they should never have let that fork happen.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 24, 2005 23:22 UTC (Mon) by rfunk (subscriber, #4054) [Link]

Yeah, I also want to see OpenVMS for the free-range cows.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 13:43 UTC (Tue) by WindlePoons (guest, #33321) [Link] (1 responses)

Vax: wet and dry vacuum cleaners:

http://www.vax.co.uk/products.htm

I dont see why they wont work for milk ;)

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 26, 2005 16:02 UTC (Wed) by WindlePoons (guest, #33321) [Link]

Looks Like it could work better than I thought:

http://www.vax.co.uk/images/promo/fact5.jpg

"Voluntary Milking System"?

Posted Oct 24, 2005 22:16 UTC (Mon) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link]

Maybe the IRS will be interested.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 0:44 UTC (Tue) by LintuxCx (guest, #14448) [Link] (6 responses)

Heh, cool to see that this also made it to LWN. My parents actually have one of these things on the farm, and it's a pretty cool thing indeed. You can actually see LILO and RedHat booting up when you powercycle the robot, that kind of things. :-)

And oh yeah, it indeed milks the cows quite well too! ;-)

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 13:04 UTC (Tue) by stro (guest, #33320) [Link] (5 responses)

If this thing actually works, it must be amazing. As a former cow milker myself, I wonder how it deals with the following:
1. Cleaning the cow sh*t off of the teats before milking.
2. Not putting bloody, treated, or mastitis in the tank.
3. Abnormally shaped/located teats.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 16:19 UTC (Tue) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link]

1. Cleaning the cow sh*t off of the teats before milking.

Now that makes me want to go grab a glass of milk. :-|

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 16:43 UTC (Tue) by zblaxell (subscriber, #26385) [Link] (3 responses)

1: In the article they do claim to clean the teats before and after milking (I'm still trying to grab the video files, but I have visions of something like a car wash underbody spray).

2: There is supposedly some performance monitoring software which reports changes in milk quantity (I'm looking for the word "quality"...and I don't see it. I think I'll be finding milk a little less appetizing for a while). I also wonder how less automated dairy operations cope with bad things heading toward the tank even with manual labor connecting up the cows. Isn't there some testing of the milk in isolation before it goes into the big tanks?

3: That would depend on the quality of the image processing software...or maybe you have to tattoo registration marks on the bottom of the cow. ;-)

I also wonder what happens to cows who for whatever reason just refuse to use the machines, or cows who for whatever reason are refused by the machines. Probably these machines are targeting the easiest 99% of the milking tasks and leaving the rest to humans...if so, I can imagine people wandering through a herd trying to find the one full cow who didn't get to the machine...

I'm mostly impressed that they can intercept moving teats in real time with just a 200MHz processor. Think of the applications of that kind of technology on, say, a P2P network. ;-)

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 25, 2005 19:52 UTC (Tue) by RogerL (guest, #4046) [Link] (1 responses)

1: Not far off, a special cleaning cup is used.

3: "That would depend on the quality of the image processing software...or
maybe you have to tattoo registration marks on the bottom of the cow. ;-)"

The cow has a RFID tag in their ear, no need for tattoo...

The sensor is very good - IMHO.
Been there done that... (yes, really!)

"Probably these machines are targeting the easiest 99% of the milking
tasks and leaving the rest to humans..."
Quite close - but "the rest" should be read as "beef" instead :-)

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 29, 2005 19:53 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (guest, #1954) [Link]

maybe you have to tattoo registration marks on the bottom of the cow. ;-)"
The cow has a RFID tag in their ear, no need for tattoo...

Different kind of "registration mark." In robotics, a "registration" means "lining up" and a registration mark is a line you use to know when things are lined up.

Linux powers robotic cow-milking machine (LinuxDevices.com)

Posted Oct 29, 2005 19:58 UTC (Sat) by giraffedata (guest, #1954) [Link]

I also wonder what happens to cows who for whatever reason just refuse to use the machines, or cows who for whatever reason are refused by the machines.

The cow very much wants to be milked, so only a really abnormal one would just not report for milking.

The article says the system keeps track of each cow's (even each teat's) milking record, so surely if a certain cow isn't successfully milked for a long time, an alert is sent to the farmer.

Voluntary Milking System

Posted Oct 25, 2005 8:47 UTC (Tue) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link] (1 responses)

"Voluntary milking" puts me in mind of the main course at the Restaurant
at the End of the Universe, who wanted to be eaten.

Voluntary Milking System

Posted Oct 25, 2005 18:47 UTC (Tue) by arcticwolf (guest, #8341) [Link]

It does make sense, though - a cow will start to feel uncomfortable when her udder's overly full, so milking is actually a relief then, similar to how a human might feel when using a restroom.