Vision technology has helped mechanize the sorting of agricultural harvests, from fruits to vegetables to nuts. But the ability to grade the quality of plants still in the fragile growing phase has thus far been left to human eyes. A revolutionary new technology developed by Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Institute may be about to make the process faster and more efficient.
Christopher Fromme, principal investigator for the project, received a call from a consortium of five California strawberry producers who had sought a research partner to design a strawberry-sorting machine. CMUs expertise fit the bill. Frommes team developed a prototype that classifies and sorts plants faster than human workers can, with a comparable error rate. In recent tests, the robotic sorter handled 75,000 plants a day.
Were now in phase three of the five-phase project, says Fromme. The next system tests will be conducted at the next harvest in October on a larger scale, handling three times the volume of the previous session.
The project clients now employ about 1,000 trimmers to sort the plants, but cite problems in labor costs and immigrant worker documentation. The new technology could replace those workers. Although a manufacturer for the final system has not yet been selected, Fromme expects that the system could eventually retail for $50,000 to $70,000, well within the reach of most nursery operations.
Source: Christopher Fromme, Carnegie Mellon University
Writer: Chris O’Toole
