Robots to shake up picking industry
TREE shaking machines have revolutionised the capture of fruits like olives and nuts, but the future of farming will see new robots capable of selecting and collecting soft fruits, like the stone fruit grown in the Goulburn Valley.
Operating from McNab & Sons orchards in Ardmona, Ripe Robotics are making autonomous fruit picking using data-driven technology possible thanks to a grant worth $571,567 under the Government’s ‘Accelerating Commercialisation’ program.
As well as addressing labour shortages affecting fruit growers, the powerful AI-technology will enable the robot to select fruits when they are best for picking, adding value to produce and driving value for farmers.
“We’re aiming to increase the quality of fruit pears because unlike a fruit picker, the machine can tell this information exactly – how ripe the fruit needs to be, how large it needs to be, what colours are there,” said Ripe Robotics co-founder and CEO Hunter Jay.
“And doing that sort of thing might slow down the speed that it picks up, which would increase the cost, but the value add from that can be fairly significant, because you’re not wasting food and you don’t, and you can also sort the fruit as it comes off the tree, rather than storing it for a year and paying that big expense.”
Mr Jay believes this technology will entirely change how we think about agriculture, while boosting Australia’s international exports and commercial viability.
“Do we want to run it the same way we’re running human fruit pickers and pick as fast as we can or do we want to go for quality determined by the season, how much fruit is still to be picked, and what the needs of the farmer are.”
Co-founder Leopold Lucas describes the funding as “game changer.” He said, “Field robotics will unlock many other opportunities for other applications that make better use of data to improve the way we grow and harvest fruit.”
“The farm of the future will be very different from the farms we know today.”
