Strawberries are a delicate fruit. They need people who pick the small, bright red fruits out in the fields. But distributors are having a hard time finding people to do the job. Today, that’s where technology steps in. Two companies, Octinion and Dogtooth, are developing robots that can gather strawberries just as efficiently as most humans.
Both operate on the same basic principle – they locate the berries using 3D vision, grasp the fruit very gently between cushioned “fingers,” and harvest it from the plant. Careful attention is paid to ensure the fruits are not damaged during or after the picking. The difference between the robots involves what they do with the green leaves on top.
Octinion’s robot plucks the strawberries by twisting them 90 degrees, leaving each berry without any of the stem attached. This is the method most consumers in Europe prefer, as keeping the stalks attached risks them bruising other strawberries in the punnet.
Dogtooth takes the opposite approach, snipping the berry off by the stem, leaving just a little bit of it intact. Doing so helps extend the fruit’s shelf life, so both methods have benefits and trade-offs.