Robotic Company Sets Sights on Strawberries, Tree Crops
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
After successfully developing a robotic harvester for strawberries, advanced.farm co-founder Kyle Cobb and his team are already seeking out other crops that could benefit from this type of automation.
Cobb… “You know in the history of time, every piece of fresh fruit and veg that’s presented to you in the grocery store has been picked by hand. Now that we have a lot of the technology available to build solutions to enter into fresh fruit and vegetable harvest, we see it as about a $40 billion market just with tree fruit and strawberry harvesting around the world.”
Cobb says the tree crops industries are where they see the most interest and potential.
Cobb… “We’re starting to see growers really take a full review on how they’re going to adapt their orchards to be more prepared for automation and this is why we’re really excited about the work in the apple industry and in other tree fruit. We’re seeing a tremendous shift to this trellised format that really favors automation. The biggest opportunity in agriculture right now is to crack this nut of fresh fruit and vegetable harvesting. I think we’re the leaders in that space, and I’m really excited about that.”
Cobb added that while this will eliminate the need for some labor, it will shift the focus to higher value work. See videos of this technology in action on their website, advanced.farm.
