Labor shortages in agriculture, including fruit picking, have been a concern in various countries, including Germany, due to factors such as seasonal demand and changing demographics.
KUKA, DE and digital workbench have collaborated to produce a mobile harvesting robot to support fruit farmers during the apple harvest. The project will explore the further development of the interaction of KUKA' and digital workbench' equipment and explore synergies, especially with regard to apple cultivation.
In the future, the robot arms will move autonomously across the fruit fields in specific practical projects. The mobile and smart automation solutions of the two technology partners will then hopefully be widely used where previously harvesting machines with several harvesting assistants were used.
We can assume that harvesting robots will be used more and more in the future. The technology still needs to mature for large-scale use and the plantations also need to be planted in such a way that the harvesting robot can work efficiently.
KUKA's partnership with digital workbench is to develop a robot system that makes the most difficult tasks in agriculture easier. An automatic apple harvesting system that does not damage the crop is an important development in an industry that is dependent on seasonal labor.
Mitigating waste, which is costly for farmers is also a key consideration - In the UK alone £22 million worth of fruit and vegetables has been wasted directly because of workforce shortages in the first half of 2022 - The key therefore lies in automation.
The integration of automation in fruit picking and harvesting not only promises to significantly reduce waste but also stands as a transformative solution to address the challenges posed by the skills gap in the agricultural sector, ensuring a more efficient and sustainable future for fruit cultivation, on a global scale.
Read the case study in full, here
Learn more about digital workbench here
