ROB - Robots

Robots are coming into widespread usage in the horticultural industry, particularly for harvesting and (post-harvest) packaging. The main types of Robots are:

  • Harvesting robots 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. 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.
  • Packaging robots can sense the amount of crop to be packed depending on the size of the package. Then they can snip the exact amount of crop and calculate the precise force needed to pack it, delicately. This is because they have a dexterous hand equipped with patented unique “electronic skin”, that is capable of handling crop of various origins, colours and sizes This “electronic skin” has been independently tested and certified as food-safe and has a higher level of sensitivity than human skin, with more mechanoreceptors per cm² than a human fingertip. This ensures that there is no bruising or damaged crop in the packaging process and shelf-life of robot packaged crop is the same as those packed by humans, if not better. Full details are available on:
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. The cutting-edge vision technology, sophisticated machine learning algorithms, and cloud updates enable the system to see and learn in real-time.

The main benefits are:

    1. reduce the number of humans needed or increase production capacity by 50-60%.
    2. price per hour is the same or lower than a human worker.
    3. ability to work 7*24*365
    4. consistent quality of the crop
    5. mproved management control of the picking process
    6. can run on batteries that can be swapped out:
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