Advances in Berry Harvesting Robots

Berries are popular by consumers for improving vision, lowering blood sugar, improving circulation, and cardiovascular protection. They are usually small, thin-skinned, and fragile, with inconsistent ripening times. Harvesting robots are able to accurately determine the ripeness of fruits, avoiding pulp breakage and nutrient loss caused by manual squeezing. This work reviews the development and application of berry harvesting robots with market prospects in recent years. Next, this paper discusses the key technologies of berry picking robots, including fruit detection and localization technology, motion planning technology, and end-effector and harvesting mechanism. It also discusses the challenges currently faced in the development of berry harvesting robots, including external factors such as unstructured working environments and internal technical difficulties such as robot design and control. To address these challenges, future berry picking robots should focus on developing weak supervision recognition models based on deep learning, high-speed collision-free multi-arm collaborative harvesting technology, and high fault-tolerant harvesting technology to improve picking efficiency and quality, reduce fruit damage, and promote the automation and intelligence of the berry harvesting.