Monday, 05 December 2016 08:55

Moving muck like magic

Written by  Mark Daniel
Lelys Discovery Collector. Lelys Discovery Collector.

Dairy automation specialist Lely has developed a version of its Discovery robot to remove manure from solid floors, unlike the original which could only push muck through floor slats.

The Discovery Collector contains a vacuum pump to ‘hoover’ up manure after first softening it with a front mounted water nozzle, then using a following spray to wet the floor to prevent it becoming slippery.

On board, two water bladders of 70L capacity are filled from a docking station at the end of a cycle, and in a neat piece of design, the bladder containing the manure expands as the water tanks empty.

After a run, manure is emptied from the machine at a designated dump site.

The Collector navigates independently using in-built sensors, following an easily programmed, pre-determined path at pre-determined times.

Available in Europe in early 2017 and elsewhere later in the year.

http://www.lely.com

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