The world’s first fruit picking robot has been developed in collaboration with Hall Hunter, one of Britain’s main berry growers and suppliers for Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. Creation of Dr Martin Stoelen, the robot will use a combination of sensors, 3D cameras and AI to pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day. Stoelen hopes to tweak his technology further and use the robot to pick other berries, fruit and vegetables.
The robot is now on trial in the UK and separate field trials in China have shown the robot can pick tomatoes and cauliflower. The final version is expected to go into production stage by next year.
