Lidar and Radar Enable the Next Generation of Dairy Cattle Feeding

Abstract

HighlightsDevelopments in automatized feeding lead to farms being locked industrial production sites.LiDAR and Radar facilitate driverless feed mixers by covering navigation and safety aspects.External safety of driverless vehicles can be compensated with optical, acoustical and organizational measures.Abstract. Present automatic feeding systems (AFS) for dairy cattle are predominantly machines with additional external structures, e.g., bus bars and guide rails. In order to achieve complete automation of the feeding process, future AFS must be adaptable to different types of farm structures. Technologies such as LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and Radar (Radio Detection and Ranging) enable free navigation of self-propelled feed mixer wagons and make important contributions to personal protection and collision avoidance. This enables the feed mixer to reach silo systems independently, remove feed and present it at the feed table. Using a self-propelled mixer feeder, both LiDAR and Radar are comparatively analyzed in a practical series of tests under farm conditions. Research into the legal framework and an exemplary risk assessment lay the conceptual basis for future automatic feeding systems. The aim of this consideration is to derive a coordinated concept for the areas of navigation and collision protection in an automatic feeding system for next-generation dairy cattle. Keywords: AFS, AGV, Automation, Dairy, Feeding, Laser, LiDAR, Radar.