Farming has traditionally been a labor-intensive business, particularly for fruit and vegetable growers who rely on large crews of seasonal workers to harvest crops by hand. However, advances in robotics technology are enabling growers to automate the harvesting process. Fruit picking robots are now being developed and tested that can pick a variety of crops with the same care and selectivity as human laborers, but without tiredness or wages. This marks a significant shift that will change the face of agriculture.
Challenges of Manual Harvesting
Fruit and vegetable harvesting has always posed several challenges for farmers. It requires assembling teams of seasonal workers every harvest season, which is a logistically difficult task. Farm work also tends to be physically demanding as it involves long hours of repetitive bending, lifting and reaching. This makes it difficult to find and retain reliable labor. Additionally, farm wages have been rising steadily, putting pressure on production costs. All these factors have motivated growers to explore robotic alternatives.
Early Harvesting Robots
Some of the earliest Fruit Picking Robots date back to the 1990s but they had limited success due to technological constraints. Robots at that time lacked the computer vision, articulation and grasping capabilities required to select ripe fruits carefully without damage. They could only harvest a fraction of what a skilled human picker could manage in a day. However, advances in fields like machine learning, computer vision, motion control and miniaturization have enabled new generations of robots that can match and even surpass human performance.
How Fruit Picking Robots Work
Modern fruit picking robots use a combination of technologies to efficiently harvest crops. advanced machine vision systems allow the robots to differentiate between ripe and unripe fruits based on color, size and other visual parameters. This is made possible through high resolution cameras and deep learning algorithms trained on vast datasets of fruit images. Once a ripe fruit is identified, sophisticated robotic arms equipped with multi-fingered grippers gently grasp and detach the fruit without crushing or damaging it. Integrated sensors provide critical feedback to precisely control grasping motions. The harvested fruits are then collected in bins attached to the robots for transportation to packing facilities. Robotic harvesters can work around the clock without breaks, efficiently picking high volumes of fruits each day.
Crops Already Being Harvested by Robots
So far, fruit picking robots have been developed and tested for harvesting a few major crops:
Strawberries - One of the earliest robotic systems was developed by Octinion to harvest strawberries in the 2010s. Field trials showed it could pick more than 25,000 berries per day.
Apples - Robot harvesting of apples is further along due to their uniform size, color and structure. A robotic harvester called Agrobot debuted in 2019 and is used on large commercial orchards in Washington state.
Cherries - Cherry harvesting robots have been under development by companies like Abundant Robotics. Advanced computer vision allows them to pick cherries while avoiding damage to the delicate fruit.
Grapes - Early grape harvesting robots were hampered by the need to detect individual grapes amid foliage. New robot designs unveiled in 2022 can successfully harvest table grapes and grapes for wine.
Blueberries - Researchers at The University of Plymouth created Bertie the Blueberry Bot that uses sensors and micro-suction grippers to harvest blueberries efficiently.
Wider Adoption on the Horizon
With successful pilot tests completed, fruit harvesting robots are expected to see wider commercial adoption over the next 5-10 years. Their use will begin in crops where ROI can be achieved quickly due to high labor costs or shortage of workers. Top producers of apples, cherries and berries in the U.S., Europe and China are leveraging government funding to transition more acreage to robotic harvesters. Technology advances will also enable robots to pick delicate soft fruits like tomatoes. As upfront costs decline with mass production, robotic harvesters will become economically viable even for small and medium farms. This will profoundly transform global agriculture by automating seasonal labor and reducing commodity prices.
New Skills and Careers
The shift towards robotic harvesting will inevitably impact agricultural employment but will also create new high-skilled jobs. Farmers will need technical experts to service, maintain and upgrade robotic systems. Programmers will be required to develop algorithms for harvesting new crop varieties. Engineers will design advanced harvester models tailored for diverse growing conditions. Vision scientists will build computer systems that “see”
and select ripe produces. Re-training agriculture workers for technical roles will ensure a just transition. Overall, robotics will raise productivity but the number of new jobs generated will comfortably offset those impacted by automation. Fruit picking robots are therefore poised to benefit both farmers and workers in the long run.
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