AI helps harvest apples in Chile

The Israeli company Tevel together with the company Unifrutti organized apple harvesting in Chile, using a robotic platform working with artificial intelligence (AI).

AI controls drones wired to a robotic platform that circle the tree and pick only ripe and undamaged fruit. Apple harvesting is carried out at all stages without the participation of people. Farmers say this is the future of farming.

AI analyzes the appearance of the apple and gives the order to pick it only if the fruit is ripe enough and not damaged. The work of the platform on the experimental farm has shown that the system performs the selection process with the highest quality. It greatly reduces harvesting costs by allowing you to pick only the best quality fruit each time it passes.

Wired power supply allows drones to operate as long as the platform receives power. The robotic platform could possibly work in the dark as well, it would just need to adjust the current lighting filters correctly.

The process of picking apples with drones is carried out using vacuum, which minimizes the possibility of damaging the fruit. The selected apples are placed by drones on the belt of the platform, from where they are transferred to containers and then to packaging.

For their robotic platform, the developers have taken Darwin Harvesting Group's platform and outfitted it with the necessary equipment, including eight self-harvesting drones. Tevel expects the robot to become popular among farmers, who are in dire need of labor during the harvest season.