Dutch machinery maker Schuitemaker says it will be showing its Innovado robot feeder at this November’s Eurotier exhibition in Hanover, Germany.

This driverless self-propelled forage box will be able to move back and forward from the silage clamp to the barn. The route is marked out by transponders set in the ground and a laser beam will scan the area for people, animals and objects in its path.

Silage will be cut from the clamp face, mixed in a vertical chamber and fed to the livestock. The system also involves auto-opening barn doors and brushes on the back of the machine that move silage up to the feed barrier. Schuitemaker says this system may well be safer than human-operated equivalents.