ROB - Robots

Robots are coming into widespread usage in the horticultural industry, particularly for harvesting. Running on batteries that can be swapped out, these robots can “see” the crop and pick the vegetable or fruit with a ripeness that meets a preset requirement. Then it can “clip” the stem of the vegetable or fruit at a pre-set distance and “holding” it from the stem drop it into a container or shipping-box, without ever touching it. Shipping boxes can be stacked on a trailer that follows the robot and can be dropped off at the end of an aisle. The robot can move independently along pipe-rails through the rows and over the floor while changing aisles. Some robots can also function in outdoor fields on rubber tires.

The robot  can also transmit statistics about the crop wirelessly to a control computer so that its performance can be monitored. The software to control the various processes can be adjusted to accommodate various crops and other management parameters.