Worry over agricultural labor shortages may be troubling many under the new administration but two engineering firms are hoping to ease worries and are aiming to market robotic fruit-picking machines by 2019.
The two competing companies – Abundant Robotics Inc. in California and Israel-based FFRobotics – have plans to manufacture and market commercial robotic harvesters sometime in the next 18 to 24 months, representatives told a global audience of fruit growers here Thursday.
The two reps gave presentations to hundreds of orchardists, packers and shippers from 13 countries gathered last week in Wenatchee for the 60th Annual Conference of the International Fruit Tree Association.
The presentations on Thursday focused mostly on apple harvesting, but both reps said the machines could be adapted to pick other fruit – oranges, peaches and maybe even cherries.
Advantages of automation include no pickers’ bags, no ladders, no hauling to distant bins, less bruising and – depending on operator schedules – the possibility of 24-hour harvesting. Manufacturers are aiming for a 2-year return on investment, with the cost of machine harvesting equal to or less than human crews.
“The ultimate goal is for our machines to be as good as humans when it comes to harvesting,” said Dan Steere, co-founder and CEO of Abundant Robotics. “We seem to be on track.”
Source - spokesman.com
