Technologies Holdings Corporation

Alireza Janani

Peter Willem Van Der Sluis

Mark Alan Foresman

Bradley J Prevost

Marijn Van Aart

Robert Godfrey

A leg () detection system comprising: a robotic arm () comprising a gripping portion () for holding a teat cup () for attaching to a teat (S, 203) of a dairy livestock (); an imaging system coupled to the robotic arm () and configured to capture a first three-dimensional (3D) image () of a rearview of the dairy livestock () in a stall (), the imaging system comprising a 3D camera () or a laser (), wherein each pixel of the first 3D image () is associated with a depth value; one or more memory () devices configured to store a reference (3D) 3D image () of the stall () without any dairy livestock (); and a processor () communicatively coupled to the imaging system and the one or more memory () devices, the processor () configured to: access the first 3D image () and the reference (3D) 3D image (); subtract the first 3D image () from the reference (3D) 3D image () to produce a second 3D image (); perform morphological image () processing on the second 3D image () to produce a third 3D image (); perform image () thresholding on the third 3D image () to produce a fourth 3D image (); cluster () data from the fourth 3D image (); identify, using the clustered data from the fourth 3D image (), one or more legs () of the dairy livestock (); and provide instructions for movements of the robotic arm () to avoid the identified one or more legs () while attaching the teat cup () to the teat (S,) of the dairy livestock ().

Vision system for leg detection

A system includes a robotic arm, a laser, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine that a teat cup is to be attached to a front teat of a dairy livestock, and in response, determine an amount of separation between the front teat and a rear teat. The processor is further configured to calculate, if the amount of separation between the front and rear teats is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, an updated front teat position based on the amount of separation between the front and rear teats and command the robotic arm to move to the updated front teat position. The processor is further configure to determine whether the front teat is found in a scan of the dairy livestock by the laser, and if so, command the robotic arm to attach the teat cup to the front teat.

Vision system for teat detection

A leg () detection system comprising: a robotic arm () comprising a gripping portion () for holding a teat cup () for attaching to a teat () of a diary livestock (); an imaging system coupled to the robotic arm () and configured to capture a first three-dimensional (3D) image () of a rearview of the dairy livestock () in a stall (), the imaging system comprising a 3D camera () or a laser (), wherein each pixel of the first 3D image () is associated with a depth value; one or more memory () devices configured to store a reference (3D) 3D image () of the stall () without any dairy livestock (); and a processor () communicatively coupled to the imaging system and the one or more memory () devices, the processor () configured to: access the first 3D image () and the reference (3D) 3D image (); subtract the first 3D image () from the reference (3D) 3D image () to produce a second 3D image (); perform morphological image () processing on the second 3D image () to produce a third 3D image (); perform image () thresholding on the third 3D image () to produce a fourth 3D image (); cluster () data from the fourth 3D image (); identify, using the clustered data from the fourth 3D image () to avoid the identified one or more legs () while attaching the teat cup () to the teat (S,) of the dairy livestock ().

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Sugar Land, TX, United States of America

Alireza Janani