With a global market valued at about $20 billion, the world’s appetite for strawberries continues to grow at a juicy six percent CAGR rate. However, the sector faces multiple struggles, with water and labor shortages weighing down on producers.
Robotic harvesting has long been studied as an alternative, but the challenge for these machines lies in identifying lower-hanging or “hidden” berries. A new approach developed by researchers at Washington State University seeks to address these hurdles.
The new robotic strawberry harvester uses a combination of sensors as its “eyes,” AI models that serve as the “brain,” and mechanical arms. Cameras identify and locate ripe strawberries, and the robotic arms gently pick the fruit, pulling and twisting it from the vine, then depositing it into containers.
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