Advances in the use of robotics in orchard operations

Agriculture has witnessed transformative innovation and technology adoption over the past 100 years including tractors, combine harvesters, and auto-steering techniques. These mechanized or automated machines relieved a huge population around the world from hard labor in challenging farming environments while also increasing food production. This transformation in farming, however, has not fully penetrated to a large segment of agriculture, what is often called specialty crops that include fruit, vegetables, flowers, and nursery crops. Tree fruit crops, for example, still are farmed using a high volume of human labor for orchard operations such as harvesting, pruning, and thinning. To address these challenges, researchers and private companies around the world have recently been putting focused efforts on developing robotic machines for different kinds of fruit orchard operations. In this chapter, the latest advancement in various component technologies (e.g. machine vision and manipulators) and integrated systems developed for robotic orchard operations is discussed.