In the apple world, all eyes have been on the progress of Abundant Robotics, a California start-up that promised to become the world’s first commercial robotic apple harvester. Despite a debut in New Zealand in March 2019 and $10 million in venture capital, those aspirations are now over. The company put its intellectual property and assets up for sale on June 29, 2021.

Dan Steere, co-founder and CEO, said “the company was unable to develop the market traction necessary to support its business during the pandemic.”

It’s a disappointment for the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission which had supplied early seed money and guidance. With worker shortages becoming ever more critical, the Washington industry had bets on an automated system that combined computer vision and a vacuum end-effector to select and pick ripe fruit before transferring it into a bin. 

The company’s business model was to own maintain, transport and operate the robots in exchange for contract payments. Abundant Robotics estimated that its machine could reach between 50 and 90 per cent of fruit on trees, but that success rate depended on canopy management in high-density orchards. 

Attention now turns to FFRobotics, an Israeli company. Its picker has multiple arms and “fingers” to grip, twist and pull fruit from trees. The technology was on view at the Fruit Logistica trade show in Berlin, Germany in February 2019. 

 Source: therobotreport.com and Good Fruit Grower