Japanese Agriculture Firm Develops Strawberry Picking Robot
Posted on September 28, 2013
A strawberry picking robot has been developed by Shibuya Seiki Co., a developer of agriculture machinery. The Japan Times reports that new robot was on display this past week at the Auto-ID and Communication Expo, which is held at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center.
The robot is 2-meters tall. It can identify fresh strawberries and pick them from plants. The robot uses digital cameras to determine the color of the strawberry and an algorithm to decide whether or not it is ripe enough to pick. Cameras are also used to help the robot get in the proper position to pick the strawberry. Picked strawberries are slowly placed in a tray after being picked.
CNET says the robot is on sale and could be yours for $50,000. Here is a video of the strawberry harvesting robot in action: