Photo: Yamaha
Automated farming solutions are not a new thing, as more and more manufacturers look to robots for their agricultural needs. Yamaha joins the trend and takes its first step by investing in a robotic strawberry harvester.
Robotic solutions help increase efficiency while at the same time decreasing labor and fuel costs. The Japanese corporation has recently announced its intentions to invest in U.S.-based startup Advanced Farm Technologies (AFT), which manufactures robots for strawberry harvesting.
AFT’s automated solution TX combines UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) with artificial intelligence and image sensors. By using image recognition technologies, the robot can identify almost instantly which strawberries are ripe and picks them gently using its robotic arms with soft grippers at the end of them.
With this collaboration, both companies plan to use their technologies and expertise to accelerate the implementation of automated farming solutions for both ground and tree crops.
The TX robotic harvester has a lightweight chassis and is equipped with a hybrid electric drive system, gliding precisely on the soil. By driving autonomously inside rows, human intervention is reduced to a minimum, with the robot being able to harvest on its own for 24 hours a day.
So far, the TX has had the chance to prove its capabilities by being deployed to work in the strawberry centers of California.
AFT recently announced that it’s raised $25 million to support the company’s growth in the strawberry harvesting sector. Yamaha Corporation is one of the investors that contributed to raising this amount.
There are plenty of other examples of robots being used for agricultural purposes. The Weeder is one of them, a four-wheeled robot that is fully autonomous and uses its 150 W lasers to destroy more than 100,000 weeds per hour. It can cover up to 20 acres a day.
Then there’s also Milrem Robotics’ Multiscope UGV, which is a highly versatile machine capable of military and rescue missions, but it is also very effective at harvesting peat.
AFT’s automated solution TX combines UGVs (unmanned ground vehicles) with artificial intelligence and image sensors. By using image recognition technologies, the robot can identify almost instantly which strawberries are ripe and picks them gently using its robotic arms with soft grippers at the end of them.
With this collaboration, both companies plan to use their technologies and expertise to accelerate the implementation of automated farming solutions for both ground and tree crops.
The TX robotic harvester has a lightweight chassis and is equipped with a hybrid electric drive system, gliding precisely on the soil. By driving autonomously inside rows, human intervention is reduced to a minimum, with the robot being able to harvest on its own for 24 hours a day.
So far, the TX has had the chance to prove its capabilities by being deployed to work in the strawberry centers of California.
AFT recently announced that it’s raised $25 million to support the company’s growth in the strawberry harvesting sector. Yamaha Corporation is one of the investors that contributed to raising this amount.
There are plenty of other examples of robots being used for agricultural purposes. The Weeder is one of them, a four-wheeled robot that is fully autonomous and uses its 150 W lasers to destroy more than 100,000 weeds per hour. It can cover up to 20 acres a day.
Then there’s also Milrem Robotics’ Multiscope UGV, which is a highly versatile machine capable of military and rescue missions, but it is also very effective at harvesting peat.
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