Argo RoboVeg Robotti: an autonomous robot for selective harvesting of broccoli

One of the biggest challenges in labour-intensive vegetable farming is the general availability of labor. When growing broccoli, the harvest makes up about half of the total labor required.

The new RoboVeg Robotti from Agritechnica combines a powerful field robot from Agro Intelligence ApS with a broccoli harvesting robot from RoboVeg Ltd. The Robotti field robot is powered by two motors that provide a total output of 104 kW. 40 kW of this can be called on the PTO.

The lifting mechanism has a lifting force of 750 kg. RoboVeg is equipped with high-resolution 2D cameras and 3D sensors. Two robotic arms that rotate around six axes to grab an independent cauliflower harvest. The robot arm needs about 3 seconds from picking cauliflower in the field to position. Harvest production is about 2,400 pieces per hour, while manual harvesting is only about 300 to 360 pieces per hour and workers.

While autonomous robots for seeding, weeding, and threshing are already available and used, so far it has proven impossible to automate harvesting. RoboVeg Robotti is the first standalone broccoli harvesting system, thus significantly improving working performance. For the farmer, this represents an increase in efficiency and a reduction in costs.