Milking robot for the Swiss market

The milking robots currently available on the market are designed for 24/7 operation and are only profitable for larger herds of 80-100 cows or more. For smaller farms, they are too expensive and inflexible for integration into existing barns. Since Switzerland has a large number of smaller farms, and these cannot afford to build a new barn to accommodate a milking robot due to space and financial constraints, this technology has not yet become widely established.

Sutter Landtechnik GmbH, a company that has been manufacturing milking machines and installing milking robots in Switzerland for many years, recognized this need and decided to develop its own product optimized for the Swiss market. With the support of the IMS at ZHAW, a functional prototype was developed in a project funded by the Swiss Innovation Agency Innosuisse. This prototype is suitable for the requirements of a typical medium-sized dairy farm in Switzerland.

By using state-of-the-art 3D sensors for teat detection and developing sophisticated algorithms for optimized robot movement, combined with modern, compact yet powerful servo drives, a new product has been developed that can be operated profitably on smaller Swiss farms.

Sutter Landtechnik GmbH will manufacture this robot itself and distribute it directly in the Swiss market and neighboring countries.

The research project was successfully completed in 2022, and development for series production is underway.