Patent ID: 11882812
Assignee: DELAVAL HOLDING AB
Field: Handling (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  B  G | IPC A  B  G

Claim 11:
12. A method for determining the positions of tools in an automatic milking arrangement and picking up the tools, the method comprising:
registering, via a camera (130) at an origin location (PC), three-dimensional image data (Dimg3D) representing at least four tools (141, 142, 143, 144) whose positions are to be determined;
identifying tool candidates (TC1, TC2, TC3, TC4) in the three-dimensional image data (Dimg3D) using an algorithm involving matching the three-dimensional image data (Dimg3D) against reference data;
calculating a respective position (PT1, PT2, PT3, PT4) for the at least four tools (141, 142, 143, 144) based on the origin location (PC(xC, yC, zC)) and data expressing respective distances (d1(x1, y1, z1)) from the origin location to each of the tool candidates (TC1, TC2, TC3, TC4) identified when the at least four tools (141, 142, 143, 144) being arranged according to a spatially even distribution relative to one another;
calculating the respective position (PT1, PT2, PT3, PT4) for each of the at least four tools (141, 142, 143, 144) based on the origin location (PC(xC, yC, zC)) and data expressing respective distances (d1(x1, y1, z1)) from the origin location to each of the tool candidates (TC1, TC2, TC3, TC4) identified while disregarding any individual tool candidate (TC2) detected at such a position that the position for the candidate (TC2) deviates from the spatially even distribution such that the position of the disregarded tool (TC2) is not calculated; and
having a tool-pickup system use each of the calculated respective positions (PT1, PT2, PT3, PT4) in picking up the tools (141, 143, 144) located at the calculated respective positions (141, 143 and 144) while not picking up any disregarded tool (TC2).