Unique Interplay Between Plant Knowledge And Robotization For Innovations In Precision Fruit Cultivation

Within the The Next Fruit 4.0 project, approximately 35 partners are working together to further develop technological solutions for precision fruit cultivation. Some key words of the project are digitalization, precision crop protection, labor optimization, robotization and, above all, profitability.

The project is divided into six work packages:

• Sensing
• Management information
• Robotization
• Conditions
• Implementation, economic validation and innovation adoption
• An innovation circle

In concrete terms, this includes detecting trees, branches, fruits and blossoms for precision crop protection. Sensor technology for stress, disease and pest detection and monitoring the crop and the product (both before harvest and after harvest). And grippers for robotic pruning and harvesting, mainly pears and pruning red currant bushes.

Multifunctional robotics
Dr. Jochen Hemming, senior computer vision & robotics researcher at Vision + Robotics and responsible for the robotization work package, explains why pears and red currants were specifically chosen. “On a global scale, there is a relatively large amount of attention for apple picking robots, both scientifically and commercially. In the Netherlands, however, the harvest period is limited to six to eight weeks and more pears are now grown in the Benelux than apples. That is why, and because the project is financed by fruit growers who are members of the NFO, the Top Sector Horticulture & Starting Materials and the Dutch business community, pears were chosen. In the context of the project goal of cost minimization, we are looking at multifunctional applications of robots and grippers, and in addition to the harvest, pruning soon comes into the picture. Both tasks face an increasing shortage of qualified labor. And because the participating fruit growers also include red currant growers, the scope has been expanded to include pruning red currant bushes. For both pruning tasks, the sensory technology, the combination of cameras, sensors and grippers, is very complex and that is why the researchers of The Next Fruit 4.0 also work together with the researchers of OnePlanet's Digital Orchard program.” Hemming is one of the few researchers within Vision + Robotics to concentrate on robot arms and grippers, while most other researchers mainly focus on machine vision, artificial intelligence (AI) and spectral image analysis.