US-based Abundant Robotics’ vacuum apple-picking harvester is close to commercial avail- ability. This kind of machine is expected to provide a solution for labour shortages during the harvesting season.
head, which is sucked into a tube and transport- ed to a pallet box on the back of the tractor. Im- mature heads are left in the field for harvesting later. Managing director Peter Keeling says: “The modular design adapts to various planting schemes and landscape characteristics, while the computer management system provides real- time analytics accessible anywhere via a custom-built website.” Trials revealed a harvest- ing rate of one head every three seconds and the ability to operate day and night. Dutch vegetable harvester specialist Tumoba is developing its own automated broccoli har- vester, envisaging a multi-row machine with cameras for head size measurement and a cut-and-hold mechanism that lifts and depos- its the broccoli head onto a lateral conveyor. Henk Molenaar at the company says that development of the electrically-operated ver- sion of the mechanical prototype has been delayed; 2022 is now the target for commercial introduction.
Cauliflower Fieldwork Robotics in the UK plans to develop a cauliflower harvesting robot in a three-year collaboration with Bonduelle Group, a leading
vegetable producer providing access to fields, expertise in vegetables and knowledge of dif- ferent growing and harvesting conditions. Fieldwork will focus on detection and soft ro- botics technology to create a first-stage proto- type, with the aim of having a commercial pro- totype ready for manufacture by the end of the programme. Fieldwork co-founder and ro- botics lecturer Dr Martin Stoelen says signifi- cant progress was made on robotic cauliflower harvesting technology in an earlier project.
Kiwi fruit In New Zealand, Robotics Plus is working on a kiwi-fruit picker to automate harvesting of some of the country’s three billion kiwis that are cropped each year. The multi-arm device locates individual fruit and plucks them from the branches with a soft pincer device that ro- tates forward 90 degrees to deposit them into a transporting tube. Steve Saunders of Robot- ics Plus says: “Kiwi fruit are relatively easy as they hang down from an overhead canopy – co-founder Alistair Scarfe proved that it’s pos- sible to use a robot to identify a fruit, reach up, pull it off the plant and collect it in a hopper.” The partners envisage this harvesting device
After locating an apple and deciding to pick it, the robot uses a vacuum to gently pluck the fruit from the tree.
being one of a number of interchangeable sys- tems that could be mounted on the low-slung unmanned vehicle the company is developing to handle various orchard and vineyard opera- tions. “Mounting the picker on a mobile plat- form means it can harvest fruit, sort them into bins by size and deliver them to the pack house,” Mr Saunders suggests. The kiwi-fruit picker draws on expertise gained from devel- oping a robotic suction packer that places ap- ples into display trays reddest side up.
Raspberries Another project being pursued by Fieldwork Robotics, this time together with the Hall Hunter Group, a major soft-fruit grower in the UK, requires an especially gentle touch – har- vesting raspberries. Hall Hunter chief executive David Green says: “For agricultural and horti- cultural businesses such as ours to stay competitive in developed economies, we must invest in the latest technological innovations
▶ FUTURE FARMING | 20 November 2020 39
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