Vision system with teat identification

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9974278-B2
Application number	US-201615239526-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2016
Priority date	Aug 17, 2016
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

A system that includes a laser, a memory, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive a teat position associated with an unknown teat, determine a first position distance between the teat position and a first teat, determine a second position distance between the teat position and a second teat, determine a third position distance between the teat position and a third teat, and determine a fourth position distance between the teat position and a fourth teat. The processor is further configured to compare the first position distance, the second position distance, the third position distance, and the fourth position distance to determine a smallest position distance from the unknown teat, identify a teat 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 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;
determine a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
apply the robot position offset to the teat location information associated with the plurality of teats to shift the teat locations for the plurality of teats;
generate a teat position associated with an unknown teat based on the scan of the at least a portion of the dairy livestock;
determine a first position distance between the teat position and a first shifted teat location for a first teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a second position distance between the teat position and a second shifted teat location for a second teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a third position distance between the teat position and a third shifted teat location for a third teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a fourth position distance between the teat position and a fourth shifted teat location for a fourth teat of the plurality of teats;
compare the first position distance, the second position distance, the third position distance, and the fourth 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 the processor is configured to:
receive a plurality of teat candidate location clusters;
average each of the plurality of teat candidate location clusters to generate the teat location information associated with each of the plurality teats; and
store the teat location information in the memory.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
receive historical information for the dairy livestock comprising the teat location information; and
store the teat location information in the memory.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
determine a dairy livestock position offset based on the location of the dairy livestock within the stall; and
apply the dairy livestock position offset to the teat location information associated with the plurality of teats to shift the teat locations of the plurality of teats.

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

6. An apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store teat location information comprising teat locations for a plurality of teats on a diary 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;
determine a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
apply the robot position offset to the teat location information associated with the plurality of teats to shift the teat locations of the plurality of teats;
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;
determine a first position distance between the teat position and a first shifted teat location for a first teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a second position distance between the teat position and a second shifted teat location for a second teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a third position distance between the teat position and a third shifted teat location for a third teat of the plurality of teats;
determine a fourth position distance between the teat position and a fourth shifted teat location for a fourth teat of the plurality of teats;
compare the first position distance, the second position distance, the third position distance, and the fourth 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.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to:
receive a plurality of teat candidate location clusters; and
average each of the plurality of teat candidate location clusters to generate the teat location information associated with each of the plurality teats; and
store the teat location information in the memory.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to:
receive historical information comprising the teat location information for the dairy livestock; and
store the teat location information in the memory.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to:
determine a dairy livestock position offset based on the location of the dairy livestock within the stall; and
apply the dairy livestock position offset to the teat location information associated with the plurality of teats to shift the teat locations of the plurality of teats.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein:
the first teat corresponds with a front right teat of the dairy livestock;
the second teat corresponds with a front left teat of the dairy livestock;
the third teat corresponds with a rear right teat of the dairy livestock; and
the fourth teat corresponds with a rear left teat of the dairy livestock.

11. A teat identification method comprising:
positioning, by a processor, a laser on a robotic arm adjacent to a dairy livestock;
determining, by the processor, a robot position offset between a center line of the dairy livestock and a position of the robotic arm;
applying, by the processor, the robot position offset to teat locations for a plurality of teats to shift the teat locations for the plurality of teats;
scanning, by the laser, at least a portion of the dairy livestock;
generating, by the processor, a teat position associated with an unknown teat;
determining, by the processor, a first position distance between the teat position and a first shifted teat location for a first teat of a plurality of teats on a dairy livestock in a stall;
determining, by the processor, a second position distance between the teat position and a second shifted teat location for a second teat of the plurality of teats;
determining, by the processor, a third position distance between the teat position and a third shifted teat location for a third teat of the plurality of teats;
determining, by the processor, a fourth position distance between the teat position and a fourth shifted teat location for a fourth teat of the plurality of teats;
comparing, by the processor, the first position distance, the second position distance, the third position distance, and the fourth position distance to determine a smallest position distance from the unknown teat;

Assignees

• Technologies Holdings Corp

Inventors

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

Classifications

• G06T2207/10004

  Still image; Photographic image · CPC title

• A01J5/007 Primary

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

• G06T1/0014

  Image feed-back for automatic industrial control, e.g. robot with camera (robots B25J19/023) · CPC title

• A01J5/017

  Automatic attaching or detaching of clusters · CPC title

• G06T7/0042

  Physics · mapped topic