Keeping apples in pristine condition as you bring them home from the store requires a gentle touch. Imagine keeping a whole orchard of apples from getting bruised as they’re harvested.
The AgriDynamic Robotics Apple Harvester, developed under the leadership of Zhaojian Li, Red Cedar Distinguished Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State, gives growers the reliable, scalable automation they urgently need.
Apple farmers have long relied on harvesting by hand to ensure high-quality fruit makes it to market, but labor shortages and rising labor costs strain their operations. A solution for alleviating these problems is a fast, gentle and reliable harvesting robot that cuts labor costs by 20%.
Using precision 3D vision and modular arms equipped with a gentle vacuum system, it takes three to four seconds to harvest each fruit with minimum bruising and a picking success rate of 85%.
Another challenge for farmers is that they sometimes lose up to 15% of a crop due to delayed harvest and rough handling.
Li’s harvester has two modular arms equipped with soft suction cups that gently pull ripe apples from the trees, keeping the fruit intact and market-ready. The machine can also work day or night, which helps ensure crops are picked at their peak.
The robot can harvest tree fruits of many kinds. Next, the team will integrate multiple 2-arm modules onto a complete platform and expand its capabilities to harvest other high-value crops including grapes, strawberries and mushrooms. Eventually, the technology will be adapted to prune trees, sort fruit and provide data analytics for farmers.
Learn more about Li’s work:
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