Pepper harvesting robot could enter commercial use within five years

The first sweet pepper harvesting robot in the world has been demonstrated at a greenhouse in Belgium. It could enter mainstream commercial use within four or five years. A pepper harvesting robot was introduced this month at the Research Station for Vegetable Production at St. Katelijne Waver in Belgium. Developed by a consortium including Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), SWEEPER is designed to operate in a single stem row cropping system, with non-clustered fruits and little leaf occlusion. Preliminary test results show that the robot currently harvests ripe fruit in an average time of 24 seconds.