Patent ID: 8662012

Claim:
A positioning system, comprising: a sensing unit ( 12 , 13 a , 13 b ) that i) senses a parameter allowing estimation of a position of a teat of an animal ( 1 ), and ii) provides information of the sensed parameter; cup-shaped members ( 4 , 8 ); a flexible tubular element ( 5 , 6 , 9 ) connected to each corresponding one of the cup-shaped members ( 4 , 8 ); a magazine ( 3 , 7 ) that provides a parking position for each tubular element; a positioning mechanism that i) holds each cup-shaped member and the corresponding tubular element in the parking position in the magazine when the cup-shaped member is not used, and ii) controls a pull out motion of each cup-shaped member and the corresponding tubular element from the parking position in the magazine to an attaching position on one teat of the animal; and a control unit ( 14 ) that i) for each tubular element, estimates an individually adapted release length of the tubular element in response to the information from the sensing unit of the sensed parameter, and ii) for each tubular element, controls the positioning mechanism to adjust a release length of the tubular element to the estimated individually adapted release length of the tubular element.