Pharm Robotics advances automated dairy cow healthcare - The Robot Report

Pharm Robotics is advancing automated healthcare for dairy cows through its robotic system, Sureshot, which automates the delivery of pharmaceuticals such as vaccines and reproductive products as cows enter the milking parlor. Utilizing RFID scanners, the system identifies each cow, retrieves its medical history, and autonomously administers individualized treatments via industrial robot arms. This automation reduces manual labor, ensures consistent treatment compliance, and automatically records inoculations in dairy management software linked to each cow’s RFID tag. Real-time alerts notify dairy managers of any errors, facilitating prompt intervention. Recent updates to Sureshot include the integration of a low-cost 3D vision system for precise injection site identification and the adoption of the FANUC CRX-20 collaborative robot, which enhances safety with sensor-based shot confirmation. A new machine learning-powered software stack accelerates shot-site acquisition, and injection tooling has been adapted to the updated hardware and software. These advancements have enabled fully automated simulated injections on model cows, marking significant progress toward full automation