Liesbet Van HerckResearch Station for Vegetable Production (Belgium)

• Cultivar selection for robotic harvesting• Crop management optimization• Dissemination and exploitation

Challenges Difficulties for robotic harvesting

encountered in the Crops-project:

Fruits are inaccessible for the grippers Limited visibility of the fruits Cut surface ≠ abscission surface

of the fruit stem, which mightincrease the risk for diseases

in plants and harvested fruits.

Crop conditions to harvest mechanically

Visibility

Crop conditions to harvest mechanically

Reachability

Crop conditions to harvest mechanically

Accessibility

Most appropriate varieties for mechanical harvesting

Better vision: removal of leaves Compare stem densities: 7.2 <-> 6.7stems/m² Row distance: 1.33m, 1.18m, 1.00m

Maintain plant growth: removal of young fruits

Create longer internodes: using “clips”

Cultivation technique

Altering plant morphology using LED lighting

Steering light (5µmol/m².s) FR

Influence of harvesting method Fruit quality

Senstivity for plant diseases

Ideal crop

1. Varieties: Riazor, Ballaidos,…2. 7.2 stems/m² (1.33m row distance)3. Frequent removal of leaves at the

height of the mature fruits4. Removal of young fruits

Team

Liesbet van Herck

Lieve Wittemans

Raf de Vis