Workers deliver clamshell packages of strawberries for inspection before they're loaded on a truck.

World’s first raspberry-picking robot is set to work

After sizing up for age and cost £700,000 to develop, the first raspberry-picking robot is ready to go to the field. The future of fruit-picking is in the hands of this robot. If everything goes to plan, the robot will be able to pick more than 25,000 raspberries a day compared to human workers who manage about 15,000 berries in an eight-hour shift.

The 1.8 meters tall robot has been developed in partnership with Hall Hunter, one of Britain’s main berry growers. The robot has begun field trials in a greenhouse at a Hall Hunter farm.

The robot is equipped with sensors and 3D cameras, its gripper is using a machine learning to zooms in on ripe fruit. When operating at full tilt, the robot can pick a raspberry in 10 seconds or less. The final version of the robot is expected to go into production next year with four grippers which can pick simultaneously.

Another field trials have been done in China and have shown the robot can pick tomatoes and let loose on cauliflower.
The robot can pick for 20 hours a day, however, the biggest challenge is for the robot to adapt to different light conditions, says Rui Andres, one of the main backers of Fieldwork.