Multibox-Systems

The MIone will free you from rigid milking times. You can achieve an optimum level of flexibility both for the development of your farm as well as for your personal time management. The special thing about the MIone is that it is not placed as an isolated set of equipment somewhere in the milking parlor, but is an intelligent integral part of a sound overall concept. The crucial element of this is the idea of a milking centre with the MIone at the heart of it. As the cows determine their own milking time, you are left with more time for herd management or other activities, which otherwise must always come further down your to-do list. In this respect, the proven milking technology of GEA Farm Technologies offers high milk quality combined with the optimum comfort for your cows.

• the well thought through barn design: individually tailored to meet your needs
• expandability: Is your farm growing? The MIone grows with it.
• the modular multibox principle: 1 to 5 box installations by easy flanging together of existing modules
• the "milking centre" concept: the concentration of all important areas to do with milking in a single location

In reality, it will not only be just you, your farm or your time plan that profits from our MIone Multibox-Systems working mode: After just a short time each of the animals will regularly go into the comfortable milking stall in keeping with their own cycle. Here they will be served by the mobile attachment robot.

The rest is a pleasant routine: Day after day, night after night and always with the same precision.

Locating of the teats with the help of a 3D-direct camera system

With the latest and unique teat locating technology from GEA Farm Technologies the position of the teats on the udder are detected quickly and unambiguously. At the core of the system is a 3D-direct camera secured to the application arm. The camera simultaneously sees the teat-cups and the teat, brings both directly in relation to each other, and thus ensures that attaching is both quick and secure. Another advantage of this technology compared to conventional systems is the lack of sensitivity to oblique sources of light.

Furthermore, the process allows the camera to be mounted in a position, where it is best protected against dirt and possible kicks of the animals. As, in the MultiBox concept, the robot arm for placing the teat-cup immediately moves on to the next stall or next cow after having carried out its task and never remains under the cow during milking. The system additionally ensures that the risk of possible damage is further reduced.

And this is how the MIone works:

The MIone is a milking robot with MultiBox system in which parallel milking is possible from a single stall up to a maximum of five, depending on the size of the system.

As soon as a cow enters a free milking stall and is identified through its recognition tag, its personal data are compared with that in the MIones database. If it is intended that the cow will be milked, the equipment then begins distributing the power feed ration suitable for that individual cow.  This is controlled in such a way that the feed is distributed during the time of the attachment and the estimated period required for milking. This ensures that the animals remain still. The mobile robot arm, on which the teat positioning camera is located and which takes over the attachment of the teat-cups, is called up by the milking stall as soon as a cow which is ready for milking has been identified and it then moves to the appropriate place. It picks up the milking arm which is located there and which has a frame at its end with the teat-cups. It then moves this under the cow and places the teat-cups onto the teats. 

Now the milking starts with the working operations of teat cleaning, pre-milking, stimulation, milking and removal of the teat-cups. During this the milking arm ensures optimum positioning of the teat-cups and the hose guidance.

The result is an extremely efficient and time-saving milking process. When the cow has been milked it leaves the stall and makes way for the next one.

The Plug & Milk concept

The MIone is a modular MultiBox system. Plug & Milk is the name of the progressive business expansion concept and MIone will help you to increase your business income in the future as well. Especially important to you, with the Multibox-System (with milking centre) your herd can grow without an overwhelming amount of work. It can grow according to the needs of the dairy farms: from one-box up to five-box system, ready for milking ex works. Even if you expand your existing system by adding an extra milking stall it is just a single robot that runs several stalls simultaneously! The technology runs at optimum capacity and your investment remains viable.

The milking centre:

For GEA Farm Technologies the concept of the milking centre is the focus. All necessary functions and equipment concentrate at a single point. The core thought behind the milking centre is the incorporation of a holding area with pre-selection as well as the option of also selecting animals after milking.

In a nutshell, it means the best overview and accessibility for the operator in terms of his technique and his dairy herd and therefore the highest efficiency. Furthermore, the immediate vicinity of the system to the calving and the special need area will meet all the cows needs: Even those that are temporarily kept separate from the regular herd.