Robotics and artificial intelligence offer the potential for dramatic changes in the dairy farm management information system and control systems of the future. Artificial intelligence programs known as expert systems attempt to match facts to possible symptoms or conditions and uses rules to arrive at a recommended course of action. When to breed a cow or when to cull a cow within her lactation may be functions of an expert system. These programs are rapidly becoming available to those of us in the dairy area. The use of robotics in manufacturing applications is common.
Work is currently underway to explore the use of robotics in the milking parlor.