Automatic vegetable harvesting technology company RoboVeg is working with two leading UK brassica growers to further develop its automatic, selective harvesting robot.
East of Scotland Growers (ESG) took delivery a RV3 three-headed robot in October 2022, primarily to harvest broccoli for the Fife-based cooperative, although in trials the robot has successfully harvested pointed and Savoy cabbage, and the manufacturers believe it is also capable of working with bright white summer cauliflower, where the curd is visible to the robot.
In Lincolnshire, vegetable growers Staples have been trialling a single-headed robot as proof-of-concept for a larger 8-headed, 6m machine which would have a harvesting capacity of 7,200 pieces per hour.
“We have developed a method which allows us to look through the leaves to identify and harvest winter cauliflower, and there are other crops we are starting to investigate, such as courgettes, comments RoboVeg director Peter Keeling. “We have also reduced the size of our single-head robot so it will fit into a standard shipping container, greatly reducing transport and logistical costs. Going forward, all our muti-headed units will also fit inside a shipping container.”