United Kingdom

New packaging machines to be presented at PPMA 2019

At PPMA 2019 the Packaging Automation team will be on hand to showcase the latest developments designed to deliver increased productivity, process efficiency and performance. PA will present the high speed Revolution, a fast and environmentally friendly tray sealing machine featuring patented motion…

Robotics no longer at the talking stage

Robotics has moved out of the talking stage and into the early doing stages, says the chief executive of Plant and Food Research, Dr David Hughes. Keeping listeners attentive…

Salmon Arm, British Columbia

Canadian firm receives funds to develop mushroom-picking robot

A Salmon Ar m company’s agriculture technology project is one of three in British Columbia receiving funding to help bring an innovative idea to reality. According to a notice…

Never fold a shirt again

Imagine it - you put freshly washed shirts in a machine, and you end up with them, perfectly folded. This idea is no longer a futuristic vision of things to come. By the end of 2019, it will be a reality. Gal Razov came up with the idea for the Foldimate. He presented its prototype in 2017. The design had to go back to the…

New digital sorter for wet-end vegetable processing introduced

Key Technology has introduced the VERYX® belt-fed digital sorters. According to the company, VERYX is the world’s only belt-fed sorter that can inspect product entirely in-air with top and bottom sensors that are designed to detect and eliminate foreign material, adding that the new machine can be…

Jet cooler manufacturer reduces lead time

Jet-Ready Precoolers, invented and manufactured by Global Cooling Inc., are described by the company as "the industry standard for portable forced-air cooling tunnels. Time after time they have outperformed built-in-place bunker-wall and integrated-cooling systems". Since their introduction, production…

Simon Fraser University develops robotic hand with human touch

Over the last several years, researchers have sought to create robotic personal assistants and bionic limbs or prosthetics that combine the durability of common robots with the flexibility of soft robots. More recently, combinations of cellular structures have shown interesting progress toward the…

Reemoon

"How we obtained a foothold in the African and Egyptian markets"

In recent years, the demand for high-quality exported citrus in China has been increasing. After its success in South Africa, Reemoon began to develop the fruit sorting system market in Egypt four years ago. Reemoon is a leading international company that produces and markets fruit sorting machines.…

Investor summit supercharges Danish robotics innovation

Where in the world can you find the best robotics innovation and talent? You might say Japan, Germany, or on American soil at Carnegie Mellon, MIT or USC. But did you know Denmark has been called the ‘Silicon Valley’ of robotics? Bilge Jacob Christiansen, a former UR engineer, developed a collaborative…

5G technology and artificial intelligence at the service of agriculture

New agricultural robot developed in Fujian, China

The Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Fujian Newland Era Hi-Tech Co Ltd have developed a new agricultural robot with 5G technology and sensors that can move between the rows of leafy vegetables in greenhouses, collect data on the plants and send them to the control room where they are…

Novelties launched during Cultivate'19

We'll keep you waiting 24 hours more for the complete photo report - but we continue to publish about novelties that have been launched during this year's Cultivate. The Plant Products booth had a lot of activity and “bounce” as they launched PurKote CRF at Cultivate ’19 this past weekend in Columbus,…

Tauro Essiccatori manufactures driers for all needs

Tauro Essicatori offers a wide range of driers against fruit and vegetable waste and to produce high-quality aromatic herbs. "Thanks to our thirty years of experience, Tauro's professional driers are perfect for those businesses or greenhouses that deal with high-quality material and are looking for new…

Cucumber harvest robot under development

Towards a European network and effective adoption of robotics technologies

Starting June 2019, agROBOfood, the €16 million EU project, builds the European ecosystem for the effective adoption of robotics technologies in the European agri food sector. agROBOfood accelerates the digital transformation to make the European agri food sector more efficient and competitive. The…

Meto Spray Trolley conversion kit available

The PLC is a small but important part of the Meto Spray Trolley. Without a Programmable Logic Controller, as this part is called, the spray trolley will not work. Steenks is the supplier of these spray trolleys, and a year and a half ago they were informed by the manufacturer that the production of PLCs…

Australia: Packing shed to install blemish, colour and weight tomato recognition system

A Southern Downs horticulture packing shed is set to install Australia’s first blemish, colour and weight tomato recognition system and create up to 30 direct and indirect…

Robot uses machine learning to harvest lettuce

A vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop has been developed by engineers. The ‘Vegebot’, developed by a team at the University of Cambridge, was initially trained to recognise and harvest iceberg lettuce in a lab…

Javo USA and Mosa offer combined solutions

Javo USA and Mosa Green announced a collaboration - they will work together at Cultivate ’19 and beyond, according to both companies. “This is a natural partnership for us,” said Javo USA General Manager Michiel Vanderwaal. “Mosa’s seeding lines are a complement to all we do at Javo USA and, like us,…

Vineland ventures into automation

"We understand growers’ requirements and we can help optimize a better solution"

Since June 1st the Canadian minimum wage rose again. Nowadays in Ontario, $14 per hour is what has to be paid minimally. Even with the higher wages, there remains a shortage in labour making it difficult for growers to fill all available positions. Because of this, it might not come as a surprise that…

Robot provides tomato growers with extra pair of eyes

Tomato growers would prefer to see the tomatoes grow all day with their own eyes. However, that is quite time-consuming. The Plantalyzer - developed by the Greenhouse Horticulture Business Unit at Wageningen University & Research and HortiKey / Berg Hortimotive - drives fully automatically alongside…

"An affordable robotic solution to automate labor intensive tasks"

Advanced Intelligent Systems (AIS), a custom robotics company creating autonomous robotic solutions to solve labour shortage problems in agriculture, will demonstrate their flagship autonomous custom robot, called BigTop , at Cultivate’19 , July 13-16 in Columbus, Ohio. “We are very excited to…

Electric tractor to transport and tow fruit bins

Helpy, an electric tractor for the transport and towing of fruit bins by Ecogreen Italia is suitable to harvest apples, pears, peaches, oranges, kiwifruits, etc. "It can tow between 10 and 12 bins and makes fruit harvesting extremely efficient. We are selling a lot of them, precisely because it is an…

The robot that picks ripe tomatoes

With labor costs rising and a labor pool that is shrinking, growers are trying to find ways in which to keep their operations running smoothly and competitively. In response, a new industry has risen which is seeking to help the so-named “labor crisis” by developing new innovations. One of these…

Vegebot: UK robot uses machine learning to harvest lettuce

The 'Vegebot' is a vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop. The bot was developed by a team at the University of Cambridge, was initially trained to recognise and harvest iceberg lettuce in a lab setting. It has now been…

Innovation and technology take centre stage on day two of PCA Conference

The Protected Cropping Australia (PCA) Conference 2019 held its final day of plenary sessions on the Gold Coast, with a focus on technology, biosecurity, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), Labour and plant nutrition. Among the sessions, delegates learnt about the lessons learnt by the strawberry industry…

Agri-tech companies are teaching robots to be growers

How do you teach a computer what a good strawberry looks like? According to AgShift founder and CEO Miku Jha, whose company is innovating food inspections with deep learning, you do it the same way you train a three year old. “You give them a ping pong ball and an egg, and you keep telling them, ‘this is…

New fertiliser unit for horticulture

The international horticulture sector recently got to know the new fertiliser unit by Hotraco Horti. The machine was presented at GreenTech in Amsterdam. Rick Oomen, Business Developer Horticulture of Hotraco Horti: "We are happy with it. The machine is very practical; on the one hand, the machine is…

Upgraded Tomato Seed Extraction Machine ready for testing

The Tomato Seed Extraction Machine (TEM-010) is specifically designed for extracting tomato seeds from small seed lots and serves for increasing productiveness at breeding stations: at the moment, there are already numerous machines operational at breeding stations throughout the world. After thoroughly…

First automated strawberry sorting in Moldova

The cooperative of fruit and berry producers, whose post-harvest infrastructure is located in the village of Nishkan (Calarasi district), this year was the first in Moldova to…

Trucks and other tools for agriculture

The Spanish company Amate, which is mostly devoted to the research, manufacture and marketing of trucks and other tools for agriculture, has recently developed a multifunctional agricultural machine that allows the movement between crop lines by coupling different implements through its hooking system.…

Robotized lettuce processing automated by 24 programmes

A plant to handle and dispatch 150,000 heads of lettuce a day all year round, with high precision and homogeneity? Robotics and automation are one of the hallmarks of the Murcian company El Dulze, a pioneer in the implementation of high-precision machinery and cutting-edge robotics for its handling and…

Strawberry picking robots might soon be servicing Wimbledon

During the Wimbledon sporting events, enthusiasts will consume around 34,000kg of strawberries every year. Pretty soon their strawberries might have been picked by a small group of autonomous robots capable of picking enough fruit for the championships in less than a week. The ‘Rubion’ bot, developed by…

Disinfecting the soil using steam

A machine that uses steam to disinfect the soil with excellent results is finally available. It is semi-moving, suitable for both protected crops and open-fields and works in all cases where soil fatigue must be eliminated or prevented. The steam deactivates nematodes, fungi and weed seeds with an…

CoreTakr technology makes full commercial debut

Robotic system removes lettuce cores for the ready-to-eat market

JBT Corporation (NYSE: JBT), technology solutions provider to the global food and beverage industry, has announced the commercial introduction of the FTNON CoreTakr. An innovative robotic system, the CoreTakr uses advanced 3D camera technology to accurately and speedily remove unwanted cores from lettuce…

"Total water concept enables treatment up to zero discharge"

Mienis Water showed their Ultrafiltration unit at the Amsterdam GreenTech 2019. This system is part of their total water concept on water management within flower and vegetable farming. Technical director Jochum Genuït explains their technology. "Ultrafiltration is a membrane technology. This membrane…

"Focus on smaller scale farms with our washing systems"

Australian owned equipment washing system company, Rhima, says it is making an effort to focus on supplying the smaller farms and businesses with their specialised cleaning needs. Rhima is a family owned company that originates, and still has operations, in the Netherlands. There are three arms to the…

Plymouth robots field-tested in Cornwall

The future of farming?

The fruit and veg harvesting robots from Plymouth that have been field-tested in Cornwall could be the future of farming, a new report suggests. Pioneering robotics technology that could help fruit and vegetable growers worldwide has been featured in a national report celebrating outstanding collaborations between academia and…

Robotic strawberry harvesting

Scientists at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, along with the Computer Science Department of Minnesota University, have developed and evaluated a robot for harvesting strawberries grown on table-tops in polytunnels. The robot consists of a newly-designed gripper mounted on an industrial arm which in turn is mounted on…

Lincoln to create first Global Centre of Excellence in Agri-robotics

The UK's first global centre of excellence in agri-robotics research will be created at the University of Lincoln, with the announcement of significant Government grant funding today (Thursday 13th June 2019). Lincoln Agri-Robotics will be established as a major new research centre bringing together…

New Visser machines for AutoStix

Visser Horti Systems will continue to improve the open source character of AutoStix. The open source system for strips and machine is currently expanded with a variety of machines, allowing an increasing number of growers to work with AutoStix. Visser announces the introduction of two new machines next to the existing machine…

Disinfection unit to fight the spread of the ToBRF virus

The worldwide outbreak of the ToBRF virus requires growers to pay even more attention to hygiene. Suppliers also pay extra attention to it. Unifortes as a producer of industrial cleaning solutions, has always done so. Nevertheless, the latest virus was a reason for Unifortes to develop a new stand-alone…

Friends share experience of using jet cooler to help expand their businesses

Two lifelong friends in northern California share cooling for their commodities. They gain two seasons out of what’s typically one season and run their businesses like brothers. Since 2014, Tony Serrano, president of JAS Family Farms Organics, and Pat Coash, owner of Koppes Plants, both in Watsonville,…

The importance of a good dipcontainer

From now on, the new pipe rail dipcontainer / sanitizer from Berkvens is available at Steenks Service. Why you need a dipcontainer A dipcontainer is very important if you want to work as hygienic as possible in the horticulture industry. The dipcontainer is filled with a disinfectant so an employee can…

Javo USA puts focus on Solutions

Horticulture growers in North America face new challenges every day. From market and labor pressures, to keeping up with the latest trends in landscaping, the problems can be almost overwhelming. This led Javo USA, Inc. to look for a new approach to help its clients and the new Javo USA website ( http://javousa.net/ ) is part…

Video:

Packing iceberg lettuce on the harvester

A video by Markus Nöthen, from Redpack Maschinen GmbH, shows the iceberg lettuce packaging machine, which can be operated stationary or mobile on a harvester. The output per hour for a well-rehearsed team with a regular product is at about 4,000 to 4,500 packagings per minute. "Compared with other…

Israeli start-up develops fruit picking drone

Although the automation of the fresh produce sector is in an advanced stage, fruit is still being picked by hand. An Israeli start-up now wants to dispense with labour intensive harvesting by utilising small drones. The people from Tevel Aerobotics Technologies feel confident that harvesting can be done…

Uzbekistan a new frontier for Futura

"Uzbekistan is representing a new and increasingly interesting frontier for Futura, a company that manufactures small-medium sized sorting systems. Four new lines are about to be tested for a company growing peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. Between 12th and 14th June 2019, Futura will take…

Crux Agribotics launches ‘pay-as-you-use’ model

Crux Agribotics launches SPaaS, a ‘pay-as-you-use’ model “to enable any grower worldwide to implement and leverage the advantages of Robotics“. Crux Agribotics launches its SortiPack Robots for Automated Grading, Sorting & Packing of fruit and vegetables at Greentech 2019. With this innovation it…

Strawberry picking robot should soon be picking faster than people

Researchers at the American University of Plymouth have developed a harvesting robot that can pick strawberries. The robot is currently still very slow at harvesting, but it should soon start picking faster than people. On average, a human can pick 15,000 strawberries in eight hours. The robot is…

Building a strawberry-picking robot

Wish Farms, outside of Plant City, Florida, grows strawberries on 600 acres. The ripe berries have all been handpicked by a seasonal workforce over 600 strong — mostly coming from south of the border. But labor is getting hard to find. The solution? Build a strawberry-picking robot. Gary Wishnatzki, the…

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