n The Dairy Mail - Your cow has a new best friend ... mechanisation

Abstract

I only heard about robot milking recently and immediately conjured up images of R2-D2 zipping around milk cows. The explanation that the robot milker - also known as a voluntary milking system - is actually a berth fitted with an automated, laserguided mechanic arm that milks the cow at her own pace, did not help much either, except that the process sounded futuristic and definitely too mechanised for any animal to respond well to.