Publishing our recent story on the Ladybird had us reflecting on the recent technological breakthroughs the produce industry has been experiencing. And while we don't have any holograms or lightsabers to offer just yet, the 21st century is not without some pretty good gadgets. Here are some of our favorites:
The LettuceBot 2 from Blue River Technology
The predecessor to the company’s original LettuceBot, this little baby is viewed as the tip of iceberg. Going through lettuce fields and taking out the less viable lettuce heads to give room to the more fruitful ones, this machine dabbles in the dangerous realm of quick decision-making. LettuceBot 2 uses a face recognition-esque technology to successfully sort the good lettuce heads from the bad and help with a crucial portion of lettuce growth.
Wall-Ye from French inventor Christophe Millot
While it’s not quite as lively as Wall-E, Wall-Ye is much more suited for agriculture than the junk business. The first robot in the world designed specifically to prune vineyard crops, this machine is similar to the toy cars and planes we enjoyed as a kid. But the controller is an iPad, and the toy is doing all your work. Talk about an upgrade!
The Ladybird from the University of Sydney
Solar-powered with sensors to measure crop growth, readouts of weed and bug pests alike, and an extendable arm to help pull some of those weeds, the Ladybird helps cover a lot of ground with little labor.
The SW6010 from Agrobot
This machine has robotic arms and sensors that can tell if a strawberry is ready to be picked by the size and growth of the berry. The system with which it measures the berries is that of a quality evaluation in a quick and efficient manner, even packing the product into boxes after picking them.
Sweet-Pepper Harvest Robot from the Clever Robots for Crops (CROPS)
A little sweet and a little spicy, this harvesting bot from the Netherlands is the first success of its kind, but definitely not the last. Using three-dimensional cameras, it can perceive size, color, and ripeness while plucking peppers. Once it is out of trials and on the market, this could become an integral practice in harvesting sweet-peppers.
And there we have it. If you still don't feel like you've entered a sci-fi film, there is plenty more where these came from. Hopefully we piqued your interest enough to continue to seek them out.
