advanced farm: harvesting without helpers

In recent years, our agricultural sector has repeatedly complained about the shortage of harvest workers. This ultimately exists everywhere. In South Tyrol, southern Italian women pick the apples that interfere with the growth of the rest of the apples in the spring. In the Munich region, there are almost only self-picking fields - presumably due to a lack of harvesters. The shortage of personnel is similar in the USA.

Robotics is the solution to this problem as well

Automation in agriculture has been advancing for years. Certainly a big step at the time of its invention was this grape-picking vehicle I saw in the south of France this summer. It's only suitable for straight ground and - harder - it should pick anything.

Naturally, selective picking makes more sense. With this, the yield can be significantly increased. This is the task that the California-based company advanced farm has set itself. Founded in 2017, the startup has received US$34 million from investors so far. Yamaha Motor is among the investors. Meanwhile, six robotic arms (photo above) can harvest 30 apples/minute. It is obvious that the market for such a harvesting robot should be very large.

In this video, strawberries are perfectly harvested and stowed, in my opinion:

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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He consults around robotics. More about him can be found here.