Citation
(2004), "Cow milking gets ABB Golden Robot prize", Industrial Robot, Vol. 31 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2004.04931dab.006
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Cow milking gets ABB Golden Robot prize
Cow milking gets ABB Golden Robot prize
Henk Hofman of Hokofarm, the Netherlands is the winner of the 21st Golden Robot Award in recognition of his pioneering work in the use of industrial robots for cow milking. He received it at the RIA awards ceremony at the ISR symposium in Paris. According to ABB, the company that presents the award, cow milking is a completely new area for robot-based automation with large growth potential. Some 100 robot systems for cow milking are now in operation.
Hofman holds a number of patents related to the application of robot-assisted cow milking. It is an application that requires close contact between the robot tool and the animal. The system coordinates the robot motions of position and orientation of the teat cups to the animal. Key factors for its success are: intuitive and self-explained user interfaces, easy programming supported by sensors, and high total system uptime.
By using general purpose industrial robots for the milking of cows, Hofman has met all the challenges of a “normal” robot application, such as, robustness of the system, uptime and simplicity, in addition to dealing with the unpredictability of animals.
ABB has presented the Golden Robot Award since 1984 to individuals who have contributed to the development of industrial robot technology.