Apple Picking Robot

With issues surrounding the labor-intensive nature of apple harvesting, The Apple Picking Robot addresses labor shortages and cost concerns by automating apple picking while maintaining fruit quality of the picked apples. The robot is currently capable of picking an apple every 3.6 seconds in a high-density orchard and achieves an 80% fruit-picking success rate with minimal bruising or quality issues. The Robot hopes to reduce the dependency of human labor, while also lowering costs.

Technology Information

Description of Technology

The Apple Picking Robot is a collaborative innovation developed by Red Cedar Distinguished Professor of the MSU Department of Mechanical Engineering, Zhaojian Li, and Renfu Lu of the USDA with the aim of revolutionizing orchard harvesting practices.

The Apple Picking Robot is a robotic apple picker with multiple arms and a computer vision system used to harvest apples from trees more efficiently than manual labor. In efforts to replace human apple pickers, this technology will carefully harvest apples, reduce labor costs, and improve the quality of fruit, potentially improving the profitability of the harvest.

Benefits

Benefits surrounding the Apple Picking Robot include:

Reducing manual labor needs and simplifying farm labor management
Reducing labor costs
Improved handling of harvest surges

Contact Us

Tom Herlache, Ph.D., J.D.

Tom works with faculty and researchers in agriculture, natural resources, and natural science to protect intellectual property and engage in commercial partnerships to bring the technologies to market.

517.884.1656

herlache@msu.edu