The Lawfer Farm near Kent, Illinois, Uses a Fully Robotic System to Milk Cows.

Robotic milking relies on cows learning how to use the milking robot to get themselves milked.

Milking is done automatically, without human intervention. When cows feel the need to empty their udders, they form a line in front of one of the farmer’s milking robots. When a cow enters the small stall, a computer recognizes it by an electronic chip on its collar and can tell when the cow was last milked.

Robots revolutionize milking cows.

The aim of the automatic milking system is to reduce the amount of labor needed to run a farm. This involves getting the cows to move around the farm by themselves and by using a robot to milk the cows. Milking robots also allowed farms to milk cows three times per day, instead of twice, increasing the milk yield per animal.

First, a cow is walked through the machine with both of the gates open. Then she is held in the machine for 4–5 minutes without being milked. After doing this 2–3 times, the farmer helps the cow to be milked by pushing her gently into place for the robot to attach the milking cups. Crushed barley is given to the cows as a reward each time they are in the machine; giving them a treat for being a good cow.

Teaching the cows to take themselves to be milked.

A milking system that is fully automated requires the cows to get themselves to the dairy for milking (the farmer does not need to go out and fetch them). Once the cows can do this, they can go and get milked at any time, day or night. The aim is to get a steady stream of cows through the dairy so that the milking robot is always in use.

Training cows to use the gates.

On their first day on the farm, the cows are walked around the property. They do a loop from the field, through a slightly open gate to a water trough which is along the race to the robot and back to a new field. One-way gates stop the cows going backward along this loop. The cows are taught to use the gates by leaving them ajar for a few days and giving them access to water, grass, or barley once they go through.

When the farm was first set up, the cows learned that they get rewards for going through the gates, and they ended up visiting the dairy shed too often. As a result, selection gates were installed. These control whether the cow is sent to the dairy or back to the pasture.

Determining when a cow is due for milking.

Electronic information on each cow is stored in a computer and is used to determine whether a particular cow is due to be milked or not. When the cow enters a selection unit, a signal from the computer directs the gate to open, either letting the cow back into pasture or directing her up to the dairy for milking.

Scientists think that cows learn to walk through the selection units to the dairy much faster if there is an experienced cow for them to follow. Farmhands are investigating whether cows already on the farm can teach new cows to use the system without any help from the farm staff.

The robotic milking system also has brought changes to the overall management of the farm. Before, dairy farmers had to monitor the cows daily and manually record their health information. Now, the milking robots automatically record data, such as the amount of milk produced, as well as the cow’s temperature, weight, and udder health. They relay this data to the farmer’s smartphone or tablet.

This information gives management advance notice about the health of the herd. This allows farmers to take action earlier, should a health problem arise. As a result, the animals’ health is improved, veterinary costs are reduced, and reproduction is facilitated.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Famous Smoke-Ring Blowing Billboard on the North-East Corner of State and Randolph Streets in Chicago.

The famous Winston smoking billboard was on the north-east corner of State & Randolph streets in Chicago. Circa 1967. A billboard like this was featured in the movie "Take the Money and Run (1969)," where the smoke rings were blown directly into Woody Allen's apartment window.

Take the money and run.

Smoking Billboard Scene at 3:45

If I recall correctly, this sign was a steaming cup of coffee advertising a brand of canned coffee before it was the Winston sign. The same principle as Leave it to Beaver's Steaming Bowl of Soup Billboard.

Leave it to Beaver

Steaming Bowl of Soup Billboard Scene 

Note the Magikist Rug Cleaners Sign.

Note the Mattel Lighted Animated Sign Board on top of the Walgreens.

Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The History of Pillsbury's Space Food Sticks beginning in the early 1960s.

Space Food Sticks are snacks created for the Pillsbury Company in the late 1960s by the company's chief food technologist, Howard Bauman. Bauman was instrumental later in establishing the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points regulations used for food safety.

Bauman and his team were instrumental in creating the first solid food consumed by a NASA astronaut: small food cubes eaten by Scott Carpenter on board Aurora-7 in 1962. (John Glenn had consumed the fruit-flavored drink Tang in space three months earlier aboard the Friendship 7.) Space food cubes were followed by other space-friendly foods created by Pillsbury's food engineers, such as non-crumbly cake, relish that could be served in slices, and meat that needed no refrigeration.

In 1970, Pillsbury filed for a trademark for a "non-frozen balance energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat, and protein" which they dubbed "Space Food Sticks". (No basis for use of the term "nutritionally balanced" was provided.) A forerunner of energy bars, Space Food Sticks were promoted by Pillsbury for their association with NASA's efforts to create safe, healthy, and nutritional space food. 

Capitalizing on the popularity of the Apollo space missions, Pillsbury marketed a consumer version of the “perfectly balanced energy snack,” that was slightly modified, and a shorter version of the food sticks eaten by astronauts. Fourteen individually packaged sticks were included in a box, labeled as a "nutritionally balanced between-meal snack," and came in six flavors such as peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate.

Kids eating Space Food Sticks, 1969

But in 1971, just two years after Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon, Pillsbury decided to drop ‘Space’ from the advertising for the sticks, and ultimately from the product name. 

John Szafranski, a grocery product manager for Pillsbury at the time, said, “We used the word ‘Space’ because of the NASA project, because the product did indeed go to outer space, and because they were first marketed at a time when public excitement about the space program was at a peak.” He added that Pillsbury stopped using ‘Space’ in the product name because “the image that space food has in the minds of many consumers is a negative one. They think space food, in general, is dry – dehydrated – and not necessarily very tasty.”

In 1973, the Skylab 3 mission, scheduled for 60 days, included modified versions of Food Sticks in astronaut meals every third day would enable the mission to be extended to 85 days, while only adding an additional 59 pounds in the weight of the cargo the crew brought. The mission actually lasted 60 days, launched on July 28, 1973, and landed on September 25, 1973.

During the infamous Apollo 13 mission, when the crew had to abort their moon landing, the sticks were integrated into the daily menu for the three astronauts on board. The sticks stuck around for the next four Apollo launches. 

Pillsbury “Food Sticks” were remarketed as “an energy snack that gives you the balanced nutrition of a miniature meal” and as “the food for busy people.” Pillsbury also slowly changed Food Sticks from being called a “balanced nutrition snack” to a “balanced nutrition food.”

The success of Pillsbury Food Sticks was short-lived. They were only available in supermarket shelves until the 1980s, as waning interest led them to be discontinued. Other copycat versions soon became available in their place.

They were revived by Retrofuture Products, of Port Washington, New York, in 2006. Two flavors, chocolate, and peanut butter were released. They were sold at flight museums such as the Kennedy Space Center and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum as well as online until production stopped in 2014.

Space Food Sticks

TV Commercials

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.