Development Results of a Cross-Platform Positioning System for a Robotics Feed System at a Dairy Cattle Complex

Abstract

Practical experience demonstrates that the development of agriculture is following the path of automating and robotizing operational processes. The operation of feed pushing in the feeding alley is an integral part of the feeding process and significantly impacts dairy cattle productivity. The aim of this research is to develop an algorithm for automatic positioning and a mobile remote-control system for a wheeled robot on a dairy farm. The kinematic and dynamic motion characteristics of the wheeled robot were obtained using software that allows simulation of physical processes in an artificial environment. The mobile application was developed using Swift tools, with the preliminary visualization of interfaces and graphic design. The system uses technical vision based on RGB cameras and programmed color filters and is responsible for the automatic positioning of the feed-pusher robot. This system made it possible to eliminate the inductive sensors from the system and suspend the labor effort required for assembling the contour wire of the feed alley. By assessing the interaction between the mobile app and the feed pusher via the base station connected to the Internet and located on the farm, the efficiency and accuracy of the feedback was measured. Furthermore, remote changes in the operating regime of the robot (start date) were proven to be achievable, and the productiveness of the food supplement dispenser also became manageable.

Determination of the Dependences of the Nutritional Value of Corn Silage and Photoluminescent Properties

“…Modern livestock complexes for the maintenance of large cattle specialized in milk and beef production are enterprises with a high level of automation of technological processes. However, some of these processes cannot be executed with 100% efficiency without human intervention [1]. One such process is the feeding of animals, which involves a complex of preparatory measures for calculating and justifying the composition of feed components and the energy value of the mixed diet [2].…”

“…Part of the feed may adhere to the used utensils and absorb moisture from the surroundings. The significant disadvantages of this method include it being a fire hazard, as well as the labor-intensive sample preparation (up to 30 min per sample) [1,6].…”

“…The moisture assessment results can be obtained within 20 s. However, a significant drawback of the method is that the tested sample must be tightly compressed, which is why the method is most effective for determining the moisture content of wood, feed compacted in a trench, or gathered into briquettes using special presses. Otherwise, the device introduces a high level of error [1,7].…”

“…For example, devices released to the market, such as Aurora NIR (Mayville, WI, USA) and Dinamica Generale (Poggio Rusco, Italy), enable not only the determination of dry matter content but also protein, ash, and fiber. The principle on which the operation of such devices is based is near-infrared spectroscopy [1,8].…”

Recent Advancements in Precision Livestock Farming

“…In the field of dairy production, Pavkin et al [14] presented an algorithm for automatic positioning and a mobile remote-control system for a feed-pushing robot on a dairy farm. This research made it possible to eliminate the inductive sensors from the system and reduced the labour required to assemble the feed alley's contour wire.…”