blogspam for https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/26/world-fir...
Also the title is bombastic, 25k/day is what they expect to be able to build by 2020
Also the title is bombastic, 25k/day is what they expect to be able to build by 2020
There are much better robotic fruit pickers.[2][3]. And the commercial ones that do this entirely by mechanical means.[4]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFemWAXx-3I
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaL3UxUclKY
2 = Apples outdoor. Camera and three-finger gripper + twist + pull
3 = Strawberries indoor/outdoor. Camera and two-finger gripper + pull.
4 = Blueberries + raspberries outdoor. Multiple general agitator designs + fall. (see https://youtu.be/bt73GOk4JRY?t=100)
I think the fourth is the only honestly commercially viable option. However, it's never going to work with most fruit, because it relies upon general agitation to disconnect the fruit.
Additionally, all of the solutions require neatly cropped rows. Whereas, the promise of robotics is that it will allow intercropping which creates more productive land with a stronger and more natural ecosystem, reducing outlays on pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer and related labour and increasing effective crop density and land use. None of these solutions even touch on these very real opportunities.
FWIW, I am personally confident that my R&D team (who normally work on food production and packaging robotics) could produce a functionally superior prototype to the OP video in a matter of weeks, for a fraction of the budget.