Robot pickers - the fruit industry's future?

KELLY SCHICKER/Waikato Times

RISE OF THE MACHINE: Developers believe their machine that can pack kiwifruit along with judging its quality could save the picking and packing industry millions of dollars.

Relevant offers

Farming

Fonterra taps NZX to run farmer share trading Milk price inquiry to continue LIC earnings rise amid dairy confidence Another shot fired in milk price battle BayWa extends deal for T&G Optimism for booming sheep industry Possum fur prices boost industry BayWa lifts stake in T&G ahead of deadline Kiwifruit IP report 'will be released' Taranaki foreign farms buy-up nearer

When an industry has a $19 million hole in the pocket someone has to get stitching fast. Mervyn Dykes reports on a machine which could be the future of the fruit packing industry.

Getting fruit to market in prime condition has become a multimillion dollar business and if things go wrong on the way, both the industry and the consumer can lose out.

Kiwifruit are no exception to the rule, but now a machine developed to bring the fuzzy gold to market in prime condition is likely to have application in other orchards.

The new machine, which could help plug holes in industry pockets and allow greater precision in marketing, has been developed by the School of Engineering and Technology at Massey University.

It is an automatic kiwifruit packaging system that will benefit buyers as well by ensuring they get the grade of kiwfruit they require at the right stage of ripeness.

The system, designed by Dr Rory Flemmer, was developed in conjunction with kiwifruit marketing organisation Zespri, in response to an industry shortage of kiwifruit pickers and packers.

Predictions last week suggested that off-shore fruit loss has accounted for a $19 million reduction in returns to growers and service companies.

Dr Flemmer says the new machine can grade to within 0.1 gram, use artificial vision to grade to Zespri standards, including detecting blemishes and soft spots, labelling, picking and packing complex orders.

"The robot will not only reduce packing costs but will inspect and pack more consistently for 24 hours every day," he says.

"It will also collect data that will enable coolstore operators to decide which fruit to market and at what time."

Information gathered can be used to provide custom-packed fruit for each market, and also to provide data on the kiwifruit as picked.

"For example, we will know how much fruit is coming in too large or small, too ripe or too blemished," Dr Flemmer says.

Dr Flemmer and students from the school custom-designed and built the machine, calling on his international experience automating production at companies including Bausch & Lomb, Nissan and General Motors.

During tests, only one lane is being used, but the plant can run up to four lanes in each machine, packing 250 to 400 trays per hour.

The next step is production of an automated robot, which will be able to pick the kiwifruit, Dr Flemmer says.

"We expect to have the picker robot running in a couple of months.

"It will be able to follow instruction as to which part of the orchard to pick and will also store data - adding a whole new dimension to the traceability trend we are seeing.

"We also hope to use that robot for pollinating in the future, ensuring the robot is fully occupied in the different picking and pollinating seasons, and of course in different hemispheres as demand grows."

The kiwifruit packer is adaptable to pack almost any type of fruit or vegetables, Dr Flemmer says, and will be operated by about 1.5 staff each shift.

He believes that a return to the "No 8 wire" attitude in building tools to suit the environment may enable New Zealand to better compete and perhaps stem the flow of manufacturing plants heading offshore.

"Automation can substantially reduce labour costs to the point where New Zealand manufacturers can outperform Chinese manufacturers in terms of quality and cost and beat them at their own game," he says.

"However, bringing in automation consultants or buying off-the-shelf machines are at best stop-gap measures - everyone can benefit from the advantages offered by systems freely available.

"The solution is to develop in- house capability to build intelligent machines with highly sophisticated vision systems working in conjunction with robots that can perform complex tasks very accurately and reliably.

"By increasing the technical level of a company, it will just keep winning."

- © Fairfax NZ News