Sales of scraper robots are set to soar in Denmark, thanks to new rules, brought in at the start of 2010, that stipulate that all new cattle sheds with slatted floors have to be equipped with a robot scraper.

The idea is to cut carbon emissions by ensuring that muck falls through the slats as quickly as possible and also to improve foot health by minimising the time a cow’s feet spend walking in muck.

This robot scraper has been designed by German company Prinzing and is brought into Denmark by Tobico. Battery staying power has been improved by fitting low power consumption wheel motors, says the company, with 20 hours of work a day and just four hours recharging. That compares with 16 hours working and eight hours charging for some rival units.

The 1.5m width machine costs DKr118,000 (about £13,500).