Norwegian fruit farms may be able to do without most of their seasonal workers in the near future, with the introduction of a strawberry-picking robot that can work around the clock. The robot was recently displayed at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and reported on by broadcaster NRK. It could change the way fruit farmers in the Scandinavian country harvest their produce, according to the report.
“It doesn’t take a lunch break, or any breaks for that matter. It would obviously be of interest to have a strawberry picker that would reduce costs,” one grower said.
Improved production efficiency could also enable Norwegian strawberries to compete with imported ones, he also told thelocal.no. The machine was developed by Noronn, a company founded specifically to develop the robot.