Canada's greenhouse vegetable sector is booming but the cost and availability of human labor is a challenge across the sector. Harvesting is one of the most labor-intensive tasks and is a prime target for automation.
Leveraging their experience marrying robotics and computer vision with biological objects, Vineland has developed a proof-of-concept harvesting robot for long English cucumbers and bell peppers. Vineland's solution is low-cost, flexible, and reliable; a goal that has been achieved by relying on readily available components.
The magic is in a custom, patent-pending end effector for long English cucumber harvesting which encircles the fruit and traverses the length, cutting when it reaches the narrow stem. Thanks to this design, Vineland's cucumber harvesting robot eliminates any risk of mistakenly cutting a main stem resulting in crop loss.
Vineland's robotic harvester will be on display for the duration of the Canadian Greenhouse Conference (October 9-10, 2024)! Located in Vineland Station, Ontario less than 30 minutes from the conference location, this is an ideal time to visit the Vineland campus, see our robotic harvesting solution in action, and meet Vineland staff to learn more about how your company can become the first to offer a viable commercial robotic harvesting system for greenhouse vegetable crops.
Vineland is seeking eligible collaborators to invest, develop, manufacture, market, and sell this technology in Canada and around the world.
To register for Vineland's Robotic Greenhouse Vegetable Harvester demonstration, please click here.
To discover more about Vineyard's Robotic Greenhouse Vegetable Harvester click here.
For more information:
Vineland Research and Innovation Centre
4890 Victoria Avenue North, Box 4000,
Vineland Station, Ontario
[email protected]
vinelandresearch.com/