A new version of the world's first raspberry-picking robot is a four-armed machine equipped with artificial intelligence that allows it to work with the same speed and efficiency as a human, and is due to be deployed on farms in the UK, Australia and Portugal over the next 12 months.
Developers claim that the Field Worker 1, nicknamed RoboCrop, can detect whether a berry is ripe more accurately than previous models and can pick fruit faster thanks to the increased reach and flexibility of its grippers.
The machine was developed in less than a year by Plymouth University spin-out Fieldwork Robotics and has already been trialed on berry farms in the UK and Portugal, with trials due to begin in Australia soon.
The British Berry Growers Association has warned that rising costs and pressure from supermarkets to lower prices on suppliers could see two-fifths of strawberry and raspberry growers go out of business by the end of 2026. If the problem is not addressed, the industry body warns it will result in “significant reductions in future supplies of fresh British berries”.
The latest version of RoboCrop will soon be sent to Australia for further field trials with Costa Group, Australia's largest fruit and vegetable grower, where raspberries are harvested almost year-round and farmers are dealing with an increase in the country's minimum wage. After further refinements, the final version of the robot will be available for sale or lease to farmers at the end of next year, with plans to manufacture up to 24 of them. Fieldwork Robotics is in negotiations to sell the machine to farmers in the UK, Portugal, Australia and California.
Fieldwork Robotics CEO David Fulton with his machine. Photo: Fieldwork Robotics
RoboCrop is the brainchild of Martin Storen, who founded Fieldwork Robotics and serves as the company's chief scientific officer, while he was a lecturer in robotics at the University of Plymouth in 2016. “We've made great strides in developing the technology since our first model in 2016,” Storen said.
The redesigned model, supported by two grants from Innovate UK worth a total of £1.9 billion, is designed to spot ripe fruit. “The robot has superhuman vision and uses it to detect the spectral frequencies of the ripeness of the berry,” said David Fulton, chief executive of Fieldwork Robotics. “Depending on the ripeness of the berry, it can emit specific spectral ranges, improving its accuracy.”
When the camera detects a berry, the arm moves towards the berry and two cameras at the end of each arm triangulate its exact location. Finally, a cup with a soft, inflatable membrane rises up to pluck the ripe fruit from the bush.
“Pelicans will have up to three berries stuck in their mouths, very similar to how humans do it; humans typically pick three berries at a time, but without getting their hands dirty,” Fulton said.
As it travels along rows of bushes, the wheeled machine's four arms simultaneously pick the berries and drop them into boxes for transport to supermarkets. Standing nearly two metres tall, the robot can currently pick 150-300 berries (more than two kilograms) per hour – the same speed as a human picker, but it can operate day or night.
The robot can harvest more than 2 kg of raspberries per hour. Photo: Fieldwork Robotics
Fieldwork Robotics is in the early stages of exploring adapting its machines to harvest other soft fruits, such as blackberries.
Nick Marston, chairman of British Berry Growers, warned: “This is a complex sector and we're a long way from robots replacing skilled pickers, so we need to make sure we have the harvesting labour we need until the technology works.”
