Harvest CROO Robotics – Transforming traditional farming methods with patented robotics technologies

With an increasing world population in need of food and a limited amount of land for cultivation, higher efficiency in agricultural production, especially fruits and vegetables, is increasingly required. The success of agricultural production in the marketplace depends on its quality and cost. The cost of labor for crop production, harvesting, and post-harvesting operations is a major portion of the overall production cost, especially for specialty crops such as strawberry. As a result, a multitude of automation technologies involving semi-autonomous and autonomous robots have been utilized, with an aim of minimizing labor costs and operation time to achieve a considerable improvement in farming efficiency and economic performance. Research and technologies for weed control, harvesting, hauling, sorting, grading, and/or packing have been generally reviewed for fruits and vegetables, yet no review has been conducted thus far specifically for robotic technology being used in strawberry production. In this article, studies on strawberry robotics and their associated automation technologies are reviewed in terms of mechanical subsystems (e.g., traveling unit, handling unit, storage unit) and electronic subsystems (e.g., sensors, computer, communication, and control). Additionally, robotic technologies being used in different stages in strawberry production operations are reviewed. The robot designs for strawberry management are also categorized in terms of purpose and environment.

With US obesity levels at an all-time high and so many American's struggling to pay healthcare costs from diet related disease, their focus as a nation must be on securing the supply of nutritious food.  Strawberries have long been considered a “super food” for their healthy properties and they continue to be a favorite in American homes.  Right now the US Strawberry is struggling with labor shortages and spiraling expenses. The result is Strawberries are in danger of returning to the days when only the wealthiest homes could afford them. Strawberry growers and the global agricultural community as a whole has been confronted with the fact that the current and future demand for food cannot rely on human-only cultivation and harvesting. While this has been commonplace in grain-based fields for decades, other food crops such as fruits and vegetables have distinct challenges that have limited the amount of machine harvesting technologies available that guarantee the pick quality, ripeness accuracy and food safety needs.

Harvest CROO provides a harvesting service that automates the crop management, harvesting and packing of specialty crops. Harvest CROO is supporting strawberry growers and maintaining supply of nutritious foods with environmentally friendly harvesting. Harvest CROO is safeguarding the commercial future of strawberry growers and ensuring that consumers continue to have access to affordable strawberries.

Sustainability & ESG

With 70% of the US strawberry growers already investors in the company, Harvest CROO is on track to assist growers who have been leaving  an estimated 20% of their crops each year unpicked due to an acute labor shortage. With the Strawberry industry under enormous economic pressure, from rising expenses to the shortage of labor, the team at Harvest CROO is focused on keeping strawberries affordable for everyone. Strawberries are an extraordinarily nutritious food, a staple in the American diet, but they are in danger of becoming a luxury food due to the enormous financial pressure US strawberry growers are under. Harvest CROO and their new robotic harvester will preserve the industry and keep strawberries affordable for everyone. The new Harvester reduces CO₂ emissions by 96% from manual pickers and the team is working hard to significantly reduce waste, increase yield and implement sustainable and responsible harvesting practices.

Software

Harvest CROO’s software ecosystem has been designed from the ground up to provide growers with data that can be used to make informed business decisions and will support growers throughout their entire customer experience. Their suite of Web and Mobile applications provides monitoring and control of Harvesters along with data insights from Harvesters and fields in which they pick. Harvester-mounted LIDAR system provides a 360° 3-dimensional view of the fields. This allows for more precise navigation down rows of strawberries.  This enables the fully autonomous harvester to avoid colliding with growing rows, people and other obstructions. Each Harvester has 16 independently working robots ready to harvest, as the harvester autonomously navigates its way through acres of strawberries. With their artificial intelligence and machine learning vision system, each berry on a plant is scanned to determine if it’s ripe, healthy, and ready to be picked.  The harvester is then set to pick a berry without damaging the fruit.

Dr. Joseph A. McGee | Executive Chairman and CEO

Dr. Joseph A. McGee, formerly a senior executive at Jabil. Dr. McGee has an exceptional track record of commercial success and leads a team of engineering innovators and commercialization experts. He and his team have developed an Industry disrupting, robotic strawberry harvester that is set to revolutionize the way strawberries are harvested in the US.

"Our vision is to help secure access to healthy and safe food for everyone. Our Harvesters reduce costs, secure the supply chain and support workers across all stages from growers and marketers to retailers."