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Octinion: The 3D Printed Strawberry-Picking Robot

Published on November 27, 2017 by Jamie D.
octinion

Belgian engineering startup Octinion are attempting to revolutionise the way we harvest. They have recently developed a strawberry-picking robot that has a 3D printed “hand” to pick strawberries with. This advanced robot can even determine whether a strawberry is ripe enough to be picked.

The 3D printed hand allows it to be precisely engineered and made out of softer materials. This means it can pick strawberries without causing them any damage in the process. In addition, the machine can pick strawberries at a speed of around 1 every 3 seconds, which is similar to a human.

Robot revolution: blessing, or curse?

In a contrasting view, this machine could take masses of jobs away from people. This is echoed throughout the US economy as the number of fieldworkers has declined 40% in the last 15 years. Replacing these remaining fieldworkers with a strawberry-picking robot would take even more jobs from them. This could impact thousands of workers. However, if Octinion’s robot is just as good and doesn’t require a salary the benefits may become impossible to ignore.

octinion

Octinion testing their machine.

Tom Coen, Octinion CEO, stated “[The machine is] a bit slower,” compared to a human. However he also says “but we’re already economically profitable because the cost per berry is similar.” In addition, there are several more advantages to Octinion’s robot. The robot includes advanced quality monitoring to allow sorting, crop monitoring, and precision farming.

Overall, with the 3D printed hand the machine picks around 70% of strawberries without damage. This is a rate that is comparable to a human worker. The robot is still only in its testing phase, so this number may be higher at release. The robot begins pilot testing with strawberry farmers in 2018, and is preparing to launch commercially in 2019. The company is looking to expand the applications of the robot further too, into vegetables such as peppers and cucumbers, and tomatoes.

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