Strawberry-picking robots being trialled at world famous Tiptree jam farm
The £1m project, led by Dr Vishwanathan Mohan from the University of Essex, is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
The tests have been conducted on Wilkin and Sons' vertical strawberry farm in Tiptree, as part of an attempt to solve labour shortages across the agricultural sector.
The robots use artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify, pick, and package ripe strawberries in mere seconds.
Wilkin and Sons' farm is trialling strawberry-picking robots (Image: Simon O'Connor) Dr Mohan, who is from the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, said: "The focus has always been on speed, precision, and the cost to build a commercially viable product.
"This season we will, for the first time, begin trialling second and third generations of robots.
"At the same time, we plan to deploy the robots to harvest other crop types and labour-intensive tasks to demonstrate their versatility."
The second-generation robot costs around £20,000 to build, a fifth of the cost of the first-generation prototype trialled last summer.
Dr Mohan said this new prototype has retained its performance level while reusing the 'vision-action-decision-making' software from the original.
The plan is to build five strawberry-picking robots by 2027, each smaller and less expensive than its predecessor.
Read more
In pictures: Wilkin and Sons hosts its 21st Strawberry Race in Tiptree
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Dr Mohan said: "The ambition is to bring the cost of an outdoor rover for AgriTech applications to the same price as a laptop.
"We want to make cutting-edge agri-robotics accessible to everyone around the world."
This research has also resulted in the creation of AgriTech spin-out company Versatile RobotX, co-founded by Dr Mohan.
University spin-outs enable academics to commercialise their research when transferred into real-world settings.
Wilkin and Sons' farm grows a wide variety of traditional English fruits, including strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, Morello cherries and more.
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