Efficient cucumber harvesting with lightweight robots

About the application:

Ever more harvesters are struggling with staff shortages. 
Cost-effective automation with fast ROI is intended to remedy this. Researchers from Fraunhofer (IPK) are testing our robolink lightweight robot for use in cucumber harvesting. Automated harvesting assistance must be at least as effective as human cucumber pickers. A practised picker manages up to 13 cucumbers per minute.

The problem

Cucumber harvesting can be exhausting. This makes it harder and harder to find harvesting personnel. To pick the cucumbers, pickers must lie prone on a support surface behind a vehicle, often for hours. Increasing personnel shortages not only make it hard to plan harvests, but also greatly reduce yields.
An automated solution would provide relief in this area. But such solutions must be cost-effective, especially for small operations, if they are to be worth the investment. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK) is working on a cost-effective automation solution that uses our lightweight robolink robot.

The solution:

Initial field tests with the igus lightweight robot for use in cucumber harvesting were successful. The harvesting robot is cost-effective, powerful and reliable. Even in tough weather conditions, the robot can detect ripe cucumbers and pick and deposit them gently with its two gripper arms.  Modern control methods give the robot tactile sensitivity, allowing it to adapt to different environmental conditions. This protects the plants during automated harvesting.