Robotic and information technologies in livestock agriculture: new relationships between humans, cows and machines

Robotic milking technologies are becoming increasingly important in UK dairy farming. These machines milk cows automatically at any time, without the need for a human worker to be present. It is claimed that the system can raise milk yields, and improve animal welfare and farmer working conditions. This development raises questions of interest to social scientists:

How are robotic milking technologies developed?
How does their development take account of and change, cows and humans who use them on specific farms?
What behaviours are expected from cows and humans who use them, and how are farming activities changed?
How are farmer-cow relationships affected?
How do farmers learn about robotic milking?
How are decisions made about adopting the technology?
How do they learn to understand and make use of the information generated by the system?
What ethical questions are raised in using robotic milking technologies?
How does robotic milking change the ways in which cows are understood and valued?
The research will involve interviews with farmers and farm workers, with agricultural scientists and researchers involved in developing robotic milking technologies, with robotic milking manufacturers and with representatives of animal welfare organisations. It will also involve periods of observational research on farms.