MAN VS MACHINE: The economic and technical challenges of replacing human labour with a robotic 'strawberry-picker'

摘要

"Picking and packing soft fruits such as strawberries and raspberries autonomously is a huge challenge. Let's face it, humans are rather good at it, so a robotic solution has to be even better" says Stephen Pattenden, who has been involved in developing the AUTOPIC Project for the past two years. Working with a number of partners such as Harper Adams University, the National Physical Laboratory, Shadow Robot Company, BerryWorld and Telemetry Associated, AUTOPIC aims to come up with a system that can successfully identify and pick strawberries in a polytunnel using a robotic arm mounted on an autonomous vehicle that was as efficient and cost-effective as human labour.