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Fetching…
Harvest CROO Robotics
Autonomous strawberry harvesting robot from Harvest CROO Robotics, currently in US piloting. Computer vision identifies ripe fruit for harvesting at up to 250 g per picking head. Designed to address seasonal agricultural labour shortages; capable of covering ground equivalent to 30 human pickers per machine.
The Harvest CROO Robotics Berry 5 is an autonomous strawberry harvesting robot currently in the piloting stage in the United States. Designed to address the severe labour shortage facing the soft fruit sector, the Berry 5 uses a multi-arm picking system mounted on a self-propelled platform that straddles raised strawberry beds. Computer vision identifies ripe berries in real time, and the picking arms harvest them without damaging the surrounding foliage or unripe fruit. The platform is designed to replicate the throughput of a full human picking crew operating continuously across a shift.
The Berry 5 is intended for operations growing on the elevated tabletop or raised-bed systems common in commercial strawberry production. UK strawberry production, which has shifted heavily towards protected tabletop growing under polytunnels, uses precisely this cultivation format, making the Berry 5 potentially well suited to British growing conditions when it reaches commercial availability.
UK strawberry production is heavily reliant on seasonal migrant labour, with tens of thousands of pickers required each season. Post-Brexit labour availability constraints have intensified pressure on growers to consider automation. The Berry 5, once commercially available, would suit large-scale protected strawberry operations in counties such as Kent, Hampshire, and Herefordshire, where polytunnel-based tabletop growing is the established model.
ROI framing is typically based on harvesting labour cost displacement: at current seasonal labour rates and the number of picks per hectare required through a UK strawberry season, a robot achieving equivalent throughput at lower marginal cost per tray would offer a compelling business case.
No secondary market exists for Berry 5 units. The platform is in active development and piloting and has not yet been released for commercial sale. Growers interested in this technology should register interest directly with Harvest CROO Robotics and monitor for commercial availability announcements.
| Payload | 250 g per head |
| Max speed | 1 km/h |