Patent ID: 8286585

Claim:
A gripper device mountable on a robot arm of a milking robot for automatically attaching teat cups to teats of a milking animal, said gripper device comprising: an electromagnet for gripping said teat cups, said electromagnet made of a magnetic material, said electromagnet including a coil feedable with a current and a core of a magnetic material arranged at least partly within said coil; and a support structure holding said electromagnet, wherein, the core comprises a substantially U-shaped magnetic core with two legs, each leg comprising an end face, each end face shaped to be engagable with each said teat cup in a close fit, the coil is wound around at least one of the two legs, an air gap is located between the two legs and the end faces of the two legs, and in use with the electromagnet holding one of said teat cups, each of the end faces is in contact with the one said teat cup such that i) a first part of the one teat cup is in contact with a first of the end faces, ii) a second part of the one teat cup is in contact with a second of the end faces, and iii) a third part, located intermediate the first and second parts of the one teat cup is exposed to the air gap located between the two legs and the end faces of the two legs, the third part free of any contact with the electromagnet.