QUESTION 1: CASE STUDY ANALYSIS [15 Marks] CUSTOMERS ARE NOT ALWAYS HUMAN, COWS ARE CUSTOMERS The first milking machines were introduced to grateful farmers over 1oo years ago. Until recently, however, they could not operate without a human hand to attach the devices to the cows. This problem has been overcome by a consortium in the Netherlands which includes Dutch government and several private firms. They hope that the 'robot milkmaid' will do away with the farmers' early morning ritual of milking. Each machine can milk between 60 and 100 cows a day and 'processes' the cows through a number of stages. Computer-controlled gates activated by transmitters around the cows' necks allow the cows to enter. The machine then checks their health, connects them to the milking machine and feeds them while they are being milked. If illness is detected in any cow, or if the machine for some reason fails to connect the milking cups to the cow after five attempts, automatic gates divert it into special pens where the farmer can inspect it later. Finally, the machine ushers the cows out of the system. It also self-cleans periodically and can detect and reject any impure milk. Rather than herding all the cows in a 'batch' to the milking machine twice a day, the system relies on the cows being able to find their own way to the machine.

Cows, it would appear, are creatures of habit. Once they have been shown the way to the machine a few times, they go there of their own volition because they know that it will relieve the discomfort in their udders, which grow heavier as they fill with milk. The cows may make the journey to the machine three or more times per day. Farmers also appear to be as much creatures of habit as their cows, however, Mr Riekes Uneken of Assen, the Dutch farmer who bought the very first robot milking machine, admitted, "I have a bleeper if things go wrong. But I still like to get up early in the morning. I just like to see what goes on'.

Answer the following Questions: 1.1 Critically analyse the case study and assess the implications of emerging technologies. (7) 1.2 What advantages you think the technology described above gives? (5) 1.3 Why you think the farmer still goes to watch the process? (3)