The University of Essex (UK) is working with world-renowned jam makers, Wilkin & Sons, to test robots that can pick and pack strawberries in seconds and cost a fraction of the cost of traditional technology.
This latest project, funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ flagship agricultural innovation programme, has enabled a low-cost robot to pick strawberries from one of Wilkins & Sons’ vertical farms in Tiptree.
The robot, which can pick a strawberry in just 2.5 seconds, is based on a previous prototype that was successfully tested in the last two seasons. The modular architecture can easily be adapted to other crops – with test robots planned later in the project with onions, tomatoes and lettuce.
Dr Viswanathan Mohan and Professor Klaus McDonald-Mayer, both from Essex’s School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, helped design and build the robot. Dr Mohan said: “Through this project, we want to transform the way food is grown efficiently using robotics and artificial intelligence, and make cutting-edge agro-robotics technologies accessible to everyone.
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Even if smaller farms and businesses can afford a robot, you need a whole fleet of them to make a difference, so it’s vital that we find cost-effective alternatives to help the agricultural industry. At the same time, robotics is changing the game to tackle some of the critical challenges we face – food security, workforce security, climate and energy.”
Robot strawberry picker – the secret is in hand
The prototype can pick strawberries with a robotic arm, before weighing and packing each one. It is hoped that the project will not only reduce the repetitive, labor-intensive process of harvesting crops, but also extend the shelf life of products by speeding up the packaging process.
Existing crop-picking robots cost around £150,000 on average, but if the project is successful, the new prototype will cost around £10,000.
The Government’s flagship program for agricultural innovation aims to support ambitious projects to transform productivity and improve environmental sustainability in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors, while driving the sectors towards net zero.
Source: Future Farming
Source: www.agromedia.rs
