Technological advancements continue to reshape the way crops are grown, harvested, and protected. One such innovation that is gaining widespread attention is the integration of greenhouse robots. These sophisticated machines are transforming traditional farming - but as this industry is new, challenges arise and are overcome every day. Here are 10 stories on robots.
"The plant in our robot concept is like a car in the car wash"
At the end of 2022, Saia Agrobotics received new capital to scale up the robot technology it is working on in Wageningen and make it market-ready. An important step is the construction of its own test greenhouse. It should be in place by early 2024.
Robot picks leaves for Dutch cucumber company Drenthe Growers
A leaf-picking robot from Lenzeel is helping out in the cucumber greenhouse at Drenthe Growers. The growers bought the robot after seeing good test results, as they shared in a video.
The leaf-picking robot is designed especially for high-wire cultivation; the robot removes at least 80% of the leaves in the 50-centimeter picking area. At test sites, the robot was already operational for 75% of the crop in 2021. There, the robot has saved at least half of the labor hours for leaf picking.
New grower tests Swiss harvesting robot
Floating Robotics is developing a tomato harvesting robot. The Swiss grower Meiergemüse was allowed to test the first prototype last year. Last week, another grower, Beerstecher, started a test.
The tomato grower will test the robot in three areas: harvesting, crating, and some logistics. The robot developer states that their solution has a three times faster picking speed and two times higher success rate.
Finnish greenhouse fully transitions to robotic pollination
Arugga AI Farming has reached a groundbreaking milestone by converting Agrifutura's 4.6-hectare greenhouse into the world's first facility to fully utilize robotic pollination technology.
"We initially deployed Polly over a single hectare last winter. The immediate improvement in pollination quality was evident. Encouraged by the consistently positive results, we expanded Polly's role quarterly, ultimately replacing traditional bee pollination", says Sebastian Anttila, CEO of the Finnish greenhouse company Agrifutura. Polly is the robotic platform developed by Arugga AI, a robot successfully replicating buzz pollination.
"An entire season of not spraying against mildew? It's possible!"
Raf Quirijnen grows strawberries in Belgium. He has just had a whole season without spraying against mildew. Raf has greenhouses in two locations, one equipped with a fully autonomous UV-C control robot.
The greenhouse without the UV-C system was very troublesome last season. That was no different for many other strawberry growers. It proved horrendous to try and manage mildew during the 2023 growing season. While this fungus seems to be getting worse every year, it is increasingly difficult to control, given the diminishing prevention resource package.
Germany: Joint scaling of harvesting robots
The Constance-based robotics startup Organifarms has gained the EBZ Group as a strategic partner and investor. The body-in-white production system and automation expert from Ravensburg will support the startup's product development and growth in the long term.
Cucumber robot line launches globally
Dutch AgTech company Crux Agribotics is launching its SortiPack® Cucumber robot line globally. The launch is captured in a video of the automated handling line in operations at a cucumber grower. After having successfully implemented SortiPack Beef Tomatoes, the company is now expanding its portfolio towards cucumbers. With increasing scarcity and cost of labor, automation, and robotization are crucial to make the fresh produce and horticulture sector more scalable, sustainable, and future-proof.
Demonstration UV-C robot in strawberry: "Reliable fighter against mildew"'
They came from far and wide strawberry growers who wanted to know the ins and outs of the applicability of UV-C light in mildew control.
WUR Agro Food Robotics takes up challenge
"Making salad with smart robots"
Having a bunch of grapes picked and packed by a robot already requires a lot of technology. But it can be even more complicated: automatically preparing a ready-made salad. Researchers from the Wageningen University & Research Agro Food Robotics program will take up this challenge over the next five years, WUR writes. "The technology is now ripe for it."
US (IL): Hippo Harvest successfully integrated autonomous mobile robots
Hippo Harvest has successfully integrated Zebra’s autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to grow greens, enabling the company to save up to 92% of water and use 55% less fertilizer than conventional produce growers. Hippo Harvest is using advanced plant science, machine learning, and robotics to grow leafy greens and other produce in sustainable greenhouse environments.