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Picker prototype gets gold star in first field test

By Daneka Hill

May 5, 2021

It’s hardly a finished product, but a new apple harvester is showing promise after trials on a Drouin orchard, with its creators hoping it can solve the on-farm labour crisis.

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A research team, led by Dr Chao Chen in Monash University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has developed an autonomous harvesting robot capable of identifying, picking and depositing apples in as little as seven seconds at full capacity.

Third generation orchardists Liz and Glynn Fankhauser sacrificed several trellised apple trees for the Monash University project, but luckily it paid off, with an 85 per cent harvest success rate

The Monash University mechanical engineering team responsible for the autonomous apple picker said less than six per cent of apples harvested were damaged due to stem removal.

With the robot limited to half its maximum speed, the median harvest rate was 12.6 seconds per apple. In streamlined pick-and-drop scenarios, the cycle time reduced to roughly nine seconds.

Dr Chen said the harvester’s vision system not only allowed it to pick out apples, but also identify leaves and branches it needed to work around.

He said the system could address the challenges of solving the current labour shortage in Australia’s agricultural sector, the future food crisis as population grows and decreased arable land.

Dr Chen also said technological advances could also help increase the productivity of fruit and attract younger people to working in farms with this technology.