VMS V310 vs M²erlin Milking Robot
Two robotic barn machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
DeLaval's voluntary milking robot (launched January 2020) — the first milking system to automatically confirm pregnancy, via in-line progesterone sampling (RePro) during milking.
Best for: Dairy herds that want reproduction management (heat + pregnancy detection) built into the milking robot.The independent alternative to the big-three milking robots — Fullwood (milking robots since 1996, rebranded from Fullwood JOZ) has built the M²erlin since 2014 around an open box, natural walk-through entrance/exit and a quiet electric robot arm. Ten years of incremental upgrades include TDS2 laser udder recognition (2020), FullCount real-time somatic cell counting (2021) and the FULLSENSE software platform (2023). Hundreds of farms run it worldwide; the Meridian variant does robotic batch milking in groups.
Best for: Dairy farms wanting a low-stress open-box robot with per-quarter monitoring from a long-established independent maker, or batch-milking herds (Meridian) that keep parlour-style routines with robot labour.| VMS V310 Verified 2026-07-16 | M²erlin Milking Robot Verified 2026-07-16 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Robotic barn | Robotic barn |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Sweden | United Kingdom |
| Availability | Available now | Available now |
| EU market | CE-marked | CE-marked |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-16 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Mains electric · vacuum + compressed air | Mains electric; energy-efficient electric (non-pneumatic) robot arm |
| Required tractor power | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Dimensions | Single-box station, in-barn installation | Open-box design with natural straight-through cow entrance and exit |
| Weight | Fixed installation | Fixed installation |
| Min farm size | 60 cows / unit | Not disclosed |
| Productivity | Up to 3,500 kg milk/day per unit | Higher milkings per cow per day claimed vs conventional parlour routines |
| Max speed | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Sensors | InSight vision-guided attach · PureFlow teat prep · RePro in-line progesterone analysis | TDS2 laser teat/udder recognition · FullQuestFC per-quarter conductivity · FullCount real-time somatic cell count sensor · AfiCollar ID integration |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Native price | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Business model | Buy · finance via DeLaval dealer network | Buy via Fullwood dealer network worldwide |
| Ongoing cost | Service contract; RePro sampling consumables | Service contract; liners and consumables; software/herd-management subscription terms not disclosed |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Pregnancy confirmation Automatic in-milk progesterone confirmation during milking · vendor | Milking frequency Higher number of milkings per cow per day (voluntary traffic) · vendor |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | CE marked | CE marked |
| Machinery Regulation | Compliant — Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 | Placed on the EU/UK markets by Fullwood under the applicable machinery regimes |
| CAP subsidy | Eligible under rural-development livestock schemes | Eligible under rural-development livestock schemes in several member states |
"—" means the manufacturer has not disclosed the figure; we never estimate silently. Model either machine's payback with your own numbers on its ROI calculator page.