Strawberry-picking robot to speed up harvest and tackle labour crisis
The University of Essex (UK) has been working with world-famous jam makers, Wilkin & Sons, to test robots which can harvest and package strawberries in a matter of seconds and which costs a fraction of the price of existing technology.
This latest project, funded by a £1.02 million grant via the Brittish Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ flagship Farming Innovation Programme, has seen the low-cost robot tasked with picking strawberries from one of Wilkins and Sons’ vertical farms in Tiptree.
The robot, which can pick a strawberry in just 2.5 seconds, is based on a previous prototype which has been successfully trialled for the last two seasons. The modular architecture can be easily adapted to other crops – with robotic harvesting trials planned later on in the project with onions, tomatoes and lettuce.
Dr Vishwanathan Mohan and Professor Klaus McDonald-Maier, both from Essex’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, have helped design and build the robot. Dr Mohan said: “Through this project we want to transform how food is grown efficiently using robotics and AI, and make state-of-the-art agri-robotics technologies accessible to everyone. Even if smaller farms and businesses can afford a robot, you need a whole fleet of them to make a difference, so it is vital we find cost-effective alternatives to help the agricultural industry. At the same time robotics is a game changer to tackle some of the critical challenges facing us – food security, labour security, climate and energy.”
Robotic arm
The prototype is able to pick the strawberries using a robotic arm, before weighing each one and placing it in packaging. It is hoped the project will not only reduce the repetitive, labour-intensive process of crop picking, but will also extend the shelf-life of produce by speeding up the packaging process. Existing crop-picking robots cost on average around £150,000 but if successful, the new prototype will cost a fraction of the price at around £10,000.
The Government’s flagship Farming Innovation Programme aims to support ambitious projects to transform productivity and enhance environmental sustainability in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors, whilst driving the sectors towards net zero.
