BetterPick picking robot beats human apple pickers in multiple aspects
On the occasion of FIRA USA, Advanced Farm Technology invited a select group of FIRA attendees and just a handful of journalists to its nearby demo location to see their picking robot live.
Future Farming was one of the very few professional news creators from across the world having the opportunity to witness the Advanced Farm Technology (AFT) BetterPick apple picking robot in action in Davis (California) recently.
AFT was founded in 2018 by 3 tech entrepreneurs without track records in agriculture who initially developed a strawberry picking robot. When it became clear that the interest in robotic apple picking was much greater and much more urgent, the company shifted its focus to that. “Labour costs double every 10 years.”
CNH Industrial and Kubota are now among the investors, and 20 people are working on the development of the AFT picking robot called BetterPick. Two prototype platforms created in 2022 are being tested in collaboration with apple growers in Washington State who grow apples on so-called trellis systems. In these systems, the branches are guided along wires so that apple trees in 2D shapes rather than with 3D shapes are created. The advantage of this is that there are far fewer apples hanging behind branches and leaves, which makes detection much easier. Partly because of lack of occlusion.
Fully autonomous
A BetterPick picking robot consists of an autonomous vehicle with a small petrol engine and an electric driveline. 2 stereo cameras at the front ensure that the vehicle navigates between the apple trees. 3 robot arms with 4 degrees of freedom are mounted on each side of the vehicle. Each arm is equipped with a Stereolabs ZED X stereo camera. The cameras also give and indication of the apple count in the orchard.
Using algorithms, the cameras detect the apples that are fit for picking according to the characteristics and specifications set by the grower. Such as the correct colour and size. adjustable. A silicon suction cup with vacuum seal next to the camera sucks itself onto the apple and then picks it. The robot arm places the picked apple on a short horizontal belt that takes the apple to an elevator that places the apple in a cubic box at the bottom of the vehicle. Two operators ensure that everything runs smoothly and can intervene if necessary. During the demo, plastic apples equipped with a magnetic suspension were picked.
Up to 6 times faster than humans
During the live demos, AFT’s picking robot was able to pick at picking rates of 3,180 to 3,800 apples per hour. With 93 to 95 percent of the apples being picked successfully. By further optimising the hardware and software, the developers expect to be able to pick 5,000 apples per hour with their picking robot next season. “Previously, the software used to be the bottleneck in speeding up the performance while at present, the current hardware is the bottleneck.” According to the company, a trained human picker can pick 1,000 to 1,200 apples maximum per hour.
AFT ultimately wants to be able to pick the apples 6 times as fast as skilled human pickers can. The BetterPick apple picking robot will be available late 2025, starting at $350,000 plus additional annual costs of about 10 per cent of the purchase price.
Join 17,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the agricultural sector, two times a week.
