Vision system for facilitating the automated application of disinfectant to the teats of dairy livestock

1. A system, comprising:

a controller operable to;

access an image signal generated by a camera, the image signal corresponding to one or more features of a dairy livestock;

determine, based on the image signal, positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock; and

determine, based on the image signal and the determined positions of the hind legs of the dairy livestock, a position of an udder of the dairy livestock;

and

a robotic arm communicatively coupled to the controller and operable to extend between the hind legs of the dairy livestock based at least in part upon the determined position of the udder of the dairy livestock;

wherein:

the controller determines, based at least in part upon the determined position of the udder of the dairy livestock, a spray position from which a spray tool may apply disinfectant to the teats of the dairy livestock; and

the controller determines the spray position by processing the accessed image signal to determine a tangent to the rear of the udder and a tangent to the bottom of the udder, the spray position being a position relative to the intersection of the two tangents.

2. The system of claim 1 , the spray position is located beneath one or more teats of the dairy livestock.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the camera comprises a three-dimensional camera; and

the image signal comprises a three-dimensional video image signal.

4. The system of claim l, wherein the controller determines positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock by processing the accessed image signal to locate edges in depth, the edges in depth corresponding to the edges of the hind legs of the dairy livestock.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller determines the position of the udder of the dairy livestock by processing the accessed image signal to trace one or more of the located edges in depth upwardly until they intersect with the udder.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein:

the camera is positioned on the robotic arm; and

the controller is further operable to communicate, in response to determining positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock, one or more signals to one or more actuators of the robotic arm, the one or more signals causing the one or more actuators to operate in order to extend the robotic are between the hind legs of the dairy livestock.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium having software embodied thereon, the software operable when executed by a processor to:

access an image signal generated by a camera, the image signal corresponding to one or more features of a dairy livestock;

determine, based on the image signal, positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock;

determine, based on the image signal and the determined positions of the hind legs of the dairy livestock, a position of an udder of the dairy livestock;

determine a spray position from which a spray tool may apply disinfectant to the teats of the dairy livestock based at least in part upon the determined position of the udder of the dairy livestock, wherein determining the spray position comprises processing the accessed image signal to determine a tangent to the rear of the udder and a tangent to the bottom of the udder, the spray position being a position relative to the intersection of the two tangents; and

extend a robotic arm between the hind legs of the dairy livestock based at least in part upon the determined position of the udder of the dairy livestock.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium having software of claim 7 , wherein the spray position is located beneath one or more teats of the dairy livestock.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium having software of claim 7 , wherein the image signal comprises a three-dimensional video image signal.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium having software of claim 7 , wherein determining positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock comprises processing the accessed image signal to locate edges in depth, the edges in depth corresponding to the edges of the hind legs of the dairy livestock.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium having software of claim 10 , wherein determining the position of the udder of the dairy livestock comprises processing the accessed image signal to trace one or more of the located edges in depth upwardly until they intersect with the udder.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium having software of claim 7 , wherein the software is further operable when executed to communicate, in response to determining positions of each of the hind legs of the dairy livestock, one or more signals to one or more actuators of the robotic arm, the one or more signals causing the one or more actuators to operate in order to extend the robotic arm between the hind legs of the dairy livestock.