It’s one thing to build a robot that can harvest produce. It’s quite another to build one that can do so faster than humans and in an economical manner, says Brandon Contino, co-founder and CEO of ag robotics startup Four Growers.
The Pennsylvania-based company initially sought to relieve labor challenges in the greenhouse. What’s since come out of that is an autonomous harvesting machine that uses a robotic arm calibrated with four stereo cameras to precisely detect and harvest produce, starting with tomatoes. (Cucumbers and peppers are on the near-term horizon.)
Four Growers just released the second generation of its machine, which also includes heatmaps and forecasting for yields as well as patented packing cart technology. “We’ve been able to prove that we can harvest fast and now we’re at the stage where we’re showing the daily operations and integration into the customer workflow,” says Contino.
The company currently has systems running in locations in the Netherlands and Canada, including one at Syngenta’s TomatoVision facility in the Netherlands.
Read more at agfundernews.com