Robots Milking Cows

axlrosen writes "The Globe has an article about robotic cow-milking machines. The cows are trained to walk up to the machine, and then "a laser locates the cow's nipples, which are cleaned by rollers coated with disinfectant before being milked by long, white suction tubes on the unit's milking claw. Vacuum-activated rubber rings at the end of each tube massage the nipple, prompting the cow to release its milk.""

Mastitis

[cymen]

Plus the computer has to monitor the flow of the milk to check for globs of mastitis material and maybe check the udder for hardness. In my opinion this sounds interesting but milking parlers have really made the whole milking process pretty efficient. Somehow the human putting on the unit and observing the health of the cow makes me a bit more comfortable with the system.