Apple-picking robots gear up for US debut in Washington state

Next fall, in all probability, some of the apples sold in the US will be picked by a robot rather th…

Next fall, in all probability, some of the apples sold in the US will be picked by a robot rather than human hands. That’s thanks to agricultural automation start-up Abundant Robotics, the maker of apple harvesting machines that will partake in Washington state’s next harvest.

Abundant’s picker has more in common with a really smart Hoover vacuum than a human hand. The robot moves down rows of orchards and uses artificial intelligence with a dash of LIDAR to search for ripe apples. Once spotted, a robotic arm with a vacuum gently sucks the apples from the tree into a bin. The achievement is owed to advances not only in machine learning and robotics but also in agriculture. The architecture of apple trees has evolved over the decades, and it’s now common to grow them on trellises like you would tomatoes or cucumbers. Modern apple trees are also smaller, derived from dwarf varietals that yield more per acre and produce fruit more quickly after being planted.

These horticultural leaps have allowed farmers to double their apple yields. They’ve also made the job of picking easier for humans and, now, for robots.

Karen Lewis, a tree fruit specialist at Washington State University who has worked with Abundant and other robotics start-ups, said that apple trees have reached a “sweet spot” for robotic harvesting. Orchards are now sufficiently uniform and predictable for machines to reliably pick fruit, and canopies are narrow enough for sunlight, the human eye and vision systems to penetrate.

Tech companies that are successful in agriculture, she said, are the ones that listen to what farmers need. “We’re not going to let technology be the driver here. Horticulture needs to be the driver.”

The US debut comes following a rollout in New Zealand, where Abundant began a commercial harvest earlier this year. Abundant CEO Dan Steere said the decision to make the global debut in New Zealand rather than Washington was based purely on seasonal luck. He added that Abundant owed a lot to the Washington growers, who gave the start-up crucial support and feedback in its early years.

“The special thing about Washington is the scale, the sophistication and the openness to supporting innovation,” he said. Steere declined to say how many machines would be put to use this fall or which growers Abundant is working with.