"Two nights ago, I even dreamt about Ekabe"

Everything is as usual in the barn. A cow enters the milking parlour. The machine detects the teats, cleans and dries them before attaching the four milking cups and pumping the milk into a tank – all a fully automated process. There is a whirring, tapping and hissing sound. After milking, the teats are disinfected and the machine cleans itself. This cycle runs an average of 180 times a day.

"The cows can go in whenever they like. But they have to have a certain amount of milk in their udders; [the computer] calculates that in advance. If they're not entitled to go in, they're thrown out again, " explains Laurent Raus. In other words: the exit gate opens and the cow has to go back into the barn, whether she likes it or not. A cow has just tried her luck again. "That one calved the day before yesterday." The farmer pulls out his smartphone. "She can be milked again in three hours and 48 minutes."

The robot works simply. The person behind it is left asking questions.