Autonomous robot harvester makes the cut with asparagus

Weighting approximately 45kg, the four-wheeled, battery powered platform can pick 100 per cent of all harvestable asparagus autonomously on an eight-to-10-hour shift.

This differs from its cartesian competitors that can experience lateral drift and occasionally miss or drop the asparagus spears they were meant to harvest.

Several innovations are key Gus’ success so far, including its arm and end effector.

“The way the robotic arm works is...really similar to the human hand, so for handpicked crops it makes way more sense,” said Kyle-James Keen, COO of autopickr, a spin-out from robot arm specialists ST Robotics.

“Most of us worked there [ST Robotics] for years before and we’ll keep using the arm we have the license for,” said Keen. “It's not complicated at all, it's belts and pulleys with motors driving them.”

Keen continued: “When we go on to make our own arm we will stick by that same ethos and same kind of design.”