Milking box with robotic attacher comprising an arm that pivots, rotates, and grips

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9980459-B2
Application number	US-201615289446-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 10, 2016
Priority date	Apr 28, 2011
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

A robotic attacher includes a main arm that is suspended vertically from a rail, and a supplemental arm that is coupled to and extends horizontally from the main arm along a longitudinal axis. The supplemental arm includes a pivot assembly that pivots a gripping portion around a vertical axis that is substantially parallel to the main arm of the robotic attacher, in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the supplemental arm, and between at least a maximum-left position, a maximum-right position, and a centered position. The pivot assembly includes a first actuator that extends and retracts a first cable coupled to a left side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion. The pivot assembly further includes a second actuator that extends and retracts a second cable coupled to a right side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a robotic attacher comprising a main arm that is suspended vertically from a rail of a milking box, and a supplemental arm that is coupled to and extends horizontally from the main arm along a longitudinal axis, wherein the supplemental arm comprises a pivot assembly that pivots a gripping portion around a vertical axis that is substantially parallel to the main arm of the robotic attacher, in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the supplemental arm, and between at least a maximum-left position, a maximum-right position, and a centered position; and
the pivot assembly comprising:
a first actuator operable to extend and retract a first cable coupled to a left side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion; and
a second actuator operable to extend and retract a second cable coupled to a right side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a third actuator operable to pivot the gripping portion to the centered position by pushing a plate against the first and second actuators such that the first and second actuators evenly retract the first and second cables.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental arm further comprises a rotating assembly that rotates the gripping portion about the longitudinal axis of the supplemental arm between at least an upright position and an upside down position.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental arm further comprises a gripper comprising claw arms operable to open and close.

5. An apparatus, comprising:
a robotic attacher comprising a main arm that is suspended vertically from a rail of a milking box, and a supplemental arm that is coupled to and extends horizontally from the main arm along a longitudinal axis, wherein the supplemental arm comprises a pivot assembly that pivots a gripping portion around a vertical axis that is substantially parallel to the main arm of the robotic attacher, in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the supplemental arm; and
the pivot assembly comprising:
a first actuator operable to extend and retract a first cable coupled to a left side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion; and
the second actuator operable to extend and retract a second cable coupled to a right side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising a third actuator operable to pivot the gripping portion to a centered position by pushing a plate against the first and second actuators such that the first and second actuators evenly retract the first and second cables.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the transverse direction includes at least a left position, a center position, and a right position.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the supplemental arm further comprises a rotating assembly that rotates the gripping portion about the longitudinal axis of the supplemental arm between at least an upright position and an upside down position.

9. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the supplemental arm further comprises a gripper comprising claw arms operable to open and close.

10. An apparatus, comprising:
a robotic attacher for use with a milking box, the robotic attacher comprising a pivot assembly that pivots a gripping portion around a vertical axis in a direction transverse to a longitudinal direction of an arm of the robotic attacher, and between at least a maximum-left position, a maximum-right position, and a centered position; and
the pivot assembly comprising:
a first actuator operable to extend and retract a first cable coupled to a left side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion; and
a second actuator operable to extend and retract a second cable coupled to a right side of the gripping portion in order to pivot the gripping portion.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a third actuator operable to pivot the gripping portion to the centered position by pushing a plate against the first and second actuators such that the first and second actuators evenly retract the first and second cables.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arm further comprises a rotating assembly that rotates the gripping portion about the longitudinal axis of the arm between at least an upright position and an upside down position.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arm further comprises a gripper comprising claw arms operable to open and close.

Assignees

• Technologies Holdings Corp

Inventors

• Hofman Henk
• De Ruijter Cor
• Koekoek Menno
• Van Der Sluis Peter Willem

Classifications

• A01K1/12

  Milking stations · CPC title

• B25J9/04

  by rotating at least one arm, excluding the head movement itself, e.g. cylindrical coordinate type or polar coordinate type · CPC title

• B25J9/104

  with cables, chains or ribbons · CPC title

• B25J9/045

  Polar coordinate type · CPC title

• Y10S901/21

  Flaccid drive element · CPC title