Vision system with teat identification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10653101-B2
Application number	US-201815953258-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2018
Priority date	Aug 17, 2016
Publication date	May 19, 2020
Grant date	May 19, 2020

Abstract

A system that includes a robotic arm, a laser, a memory, and a processor. The processor is configured to position the laser adjacent to a dairy livestock and to modify teat location information for one or more teats of the dairy livestock based on a robot position offset between the dairy livestock and the robotic arm. The processor is further configured to generate a teat position associated with an unknown teat based on a scan of the dairy livestock and to determine a position distances between the teat position and teats of the dairy livestock. The processor is further configured to identify a teat of the dairy livestock with the smallest position distance, to associate a teat identifier for the unknown teat with the identified teat, and to store the association in the memory.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vision system comprising:
a robotic arm comprising a laser configured to scan at least a portion of a dairy livestock in a stall;
a memory configured to store teat location information comprising teat locations for a plurality of teats of the dairy livestock; and
a processor operably coupled to the laser and the memory, and configured to:
position the laser adjacent to the dairy livestock;
modify teat location information for one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock based on a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
generate a teat position associated with an unknown teat based on the scan of the at least a portion of the dairy livestock;
identify a first teat and a second teat from among the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock based on the teat position for the unknown teat;
determine a first position distance between the teat position and a first modified teat location for the first teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a second position distance between the teat position and a second modified teat location for the second teat of the plurality of teats;
compare the first position distance and the second position distance to determine a smallest position distance from the unknown teat;
identify a teat from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock corresponding with the smallest position distance;
associate a teat identifier for the unknown teat with the identified teat; and
store the association between the teat identifier and the teat position in the memory.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein positioning the laser comprises:
obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) image of at least a portion of the dairy livestock, wherein each pixel of the 3D image is associated with a depth value;
identifying a region in the 3D image between a pair of legs of the dairy livestock; and
moving the laser toward the identified region.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the teat location information, wherein generating the teat location information comprises:
receiving a plurality of teat candidate location clusters;
averaging each of the plurality of teat candidate location clusters to generate the teat location information associated with each of the plurality teats; and
storing the teat location information in the memory.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the teat location information, wherein generating the teat location information comprises:
receiving historical information for the dairy livestock comprising the teat location information; and
storing the teat location information in the memory.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein modifying teat location information for the one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock comprises:
determining a dairy livestock position offset based on the location of the dairy livestock within the stall; and
applying the dairy livestock position offset to the teat location information for the one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock to modify the teat location information.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first teat corresponds with a front right teat of the dairy livestock; and
the second teat corresponds with a front left teat of the dairy livestock.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the first teat corresponds with a rear right teat of the dairy livestock; and
the second teat corresponds with a rear left teat of the dairy livestock.

8. An apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store teat location information comprising teat locations for a plurality of teats on a dairy livestock in a stall; and
a processor operably coupled to the memory, and configured to:
position a laser on a robotic arm adjacent to the dairy livestock;
modify teat location information for one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock based on a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
send an electrical signal to the laser that initiates scanning at least a portion of the dairy livestock;
generate a teat position associated with an unknown teat based on the scan of the at least a portion of the dairy livestock;
identify a first teat and a second teat from among the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock based on the teat position for the unknown teat;
determine a first position distance between the teat position and a first modified teat location for the first teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a second position distance between the teat position and a second modified teat location for the second teat of the plurality of teats;
compare the first position distance and the second position distance to determine a smallest position distance from the unknown teat;
identify a teat from the plurality of teats corresponding with the smallest position distance;
associate a teat identifier for the unknown teat with the identified teat; and
storing the association between the teat identifier and the teat position in the memory.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein positioning the laser comprises:
obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) image of at least portion of the dairy livestock, wherein each pixel of the 3D image is associated with a depth value;
identifying a region in the 3D image between a pair of legs of the dairy livestock; and
moving the laser toward the identified region.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the teat location information, wherein generating the teat location information comprises:
receiving a plurality of teat candidate location clusters; and
averaging each of the plurality of teat candidate location clusters to generate the teat location information associated with each of the plurality teats; and
storing the teat location information in the memory.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to generate the teat location information, wherein generating the teat location information comprises:
receiving historical information comprising the teat location information for the dairy livestock; and
storing the teat location information in the memory.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein modifying the teat location information for the one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock comprises:
determining a dairy livestock position offset based on the location of the dairy livestock within the stall; and
applying the dairy livestock position offset to the teat location information for the one or more teats from the plurality of teats of the dairy livestock to modify the teat location information.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:
the first teat corresponds with a front right teat of the dairy livestock; and
the second teat corresponds with a front left teat of the dairy livestock.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein:
the first teat corresponds with a rear right teat of the dairy livestock; and
the second teat corresponds with a rear left teat of the dairy livestock.

15. A teat identification method comprising:
positioning, by a processor, a laser on a robotic arm adjacent to a dairy livestock;
modifying, by the processor, teat location information for one or more teats from a plurality of teats of the dairy livestock based on a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
scanning, by the laser, at least a

Assignees

• Technologies Holdings Corp

Inventors

• Foresman Mark A
• Prevost Bradley J
• Van Aart Marinus P

Classifications

• G06T7/75

  involving models · CPC title

• G06T2207/10028

  Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds · CPC title

• A01J5/007 Primary

  Monitoring milking processes; Control or regulation of milking machines · CPC title

• G06T7/11

  Region-based segmentation · CPC title

• G06T7/136

  involving thresholding · CPC title