High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Automatic milking is the milking of dairy animals, especially of dairy cattle, without human labour. Automatic milking systems (AMS), also called voluntary milking systems (VMS), or were developed in the late 20th century. They are commercially available since the early 1990s. The core of such systems, that allows complete automation of the milking process, is a type of agricultural robot. Automated milking is also called robotic milking therefore. Common systems rely on the use of computers and special herd management software.