What’s the Future of Orchard Robotics in Pennsylvania?
August 27, 2018 
A multi-tier shake-and-catch apple harvesting platform was designed by a team of researchers, including Long He, at Washington State University. (Photo: Long He)
“During the past several decades, agriculture, in general, has made advancements as a result of automation and precision management technologies. However, for the specialty crops including tree fruit, the application of automation and precision management has lagged behind due to the complexity of orchard tasks and inconsistencies in orchard systems,” Long He, Specialty Crop Engineer and Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering at Penn State University, writes. “The majority of tree fruit production operations are still highly dependent on human labor.”
To address the challenges in the tree fruit industry, Penn State University is focusing on mechanical and automated system solutions to reduce the dependence on labor. Narrow fruiting walls and high-density orchard systems can allow for easier access to fruits and the canopy.
“Although fully autonomous orchard technologies are still under development, some mass mechanization technologies are available for operations such as hedging of fruit trees and non-selective blossom thinning. Mass mechanical harvesting of fresh market apples is proving to be promising,” he writes. “We are involved in a grant proposal with California engineers to develop an integrated shake-and-catch harvesting platform for tree fruits. Compared to robotic systems, mass mechanization, while non-selective, typically has higher efficiency and is more cost-effective.”
As part of his research and Extension outreach, He is asking Pennsylvania growers to fill out an engineering needs assessment. This very brief survey seeks to learn growers’ priorities for increasing labor efficiency and precision in tree fruit production.
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