The Astronaut robot's feed bin has been redesigned. The main difference between the old and the new feed bin is the design. The new feed bin has an additional pipe on the side where the food is distributed. The purpose of this pipe is to centralize the head of the cow in the feed bin. This will reduce the amount of space for the cow to move their head during the feeding process which have a positive impact on feed spillage. During a field test on several test farms, the differences between the old and new types were monitored for cow behaviour and feed spillage:

Cow behaviour

There is a difference in cow behaviour between the two bins. This can be seen in the position of the head during milking. The observed difference gives an immeasurable but desirable result on the cow's position in the robot unit during the milking process. 

Feed spillage

Apart from the fact that there is hardly any spillage, there is no difference in feed spillage between the two types of feed bins.
Remark on spillage: Spillage seems to be more dependent on holes in the space above the feed bin through which launched feed falls back as a result of licking. If there are gaps or open spaces, this may happen instead of falling back into the bin.

Old Bin 

New Bin

What do you think about this change? Would it impact your everyday tasks much?