Spanish tech-developing companies TKNIKA and Eurecat developed a robot that combines vision and artificial intelligence to identify when strawberries are ready to be harvested and carry out the picking process. It can be adapted for various types of crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and stone fruits, among others.

The robot was created as a solution to help address the growing need among agrifood companies to optimize field tasks amid labor shortages while also generating a crop tracking database, which facilitates more sustainable and resilient management in the face of climate change.

TKNIKA, the research and applied innovation center for Vocational Training in the Basque Country, has promoted the project and validated the robot in a strawberry crop at its facilities.

The Eurecat technological center developed the robot as part of the advanced digitalization project HarvBot (HARVesting coBOT).

The picking machine was presented at the Expo AgriTech 2024 fair, focused on technologies for the agricultural sector, which took place from November 26 to 28 in Málaga.

The Department of Education, through the research and applied innovation center for Basque Vocational Training, and the Eurecat technological center, have joined forces to develop a new technological solution for the agricultural sector.

Developed within the framework of the HarvBot (HARVesting coBOT) project, the robot is equipped with vision and artificial intelligence technologies for detecting fruits and has a data system to monitor the crop's status and the harvesting process.

As part of the project, "new 3D-printed components have been designed and tested to adapt the robot to identify and pick fruit, as well as algorithms for detection and handling tasks," explains Óscar Palacín, researcher at the Robotics and Automation Unit of Eurecat.

This robotic solution, developed in response to a market need identified by TKNIKA, was tested at a hydroponic strawberry crop at TKNIKA's facilities in Errenteria (Gipuzkoa) that served as a pilot test for the company Enkitek.

"The agnostic application of software to the hardware used, a key pillar of this project, is crucial for introducing automation into this emerging sector, enabling access to the growing market of low-cost robots and turning them into scalable businesses," comments Víctor Canton Ferrer, CEO and co-founder of Enkitek.

The HarvBot project has been implemented with the support of ACCIÓ, the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Generalitat de Catalunya, within the framework of the Digital Innovation Hub of Catalonia.