Vol. 8, Issue 8, Part M (2024)

Millions of tons of sweet peppers (capsicum) are still manually harvested each year in both open fields and greenhouses. This reliance on hand-picking is due to a shortage of skilled labor and rising labor costs, creating a growing need for robotic systems to assist in the harvesting of sweet peppers, especially in greenhouses. One such robot, CROPS, has been developed, but its success rate in harvesting unmodified crops is relatively low, ranging between only 2% and 6%. A more advanced robotic harvester, known as Harvey, has been designed with a novel end-effector specifically for sweet pepper harvesting. When tested, Harvey successfully harvested 58% of the Claire variety and 42% of the Redject variety, measuring the success of both attachment and detachment processes. Additionally, the SWEPPER robot was evaluated using two different approach strategies in a case study on sweet pepper harvesting. The single approach strategy proved to be significantly more effective, with an 84% success rate, compared to the 49% success rate achieved with the multiple approach strategy. In terms of efficiency, the time required for robotic harvesting varies between systems. SWEPPER demonstrated an average picking time of 24 seconds per pepper, while the CROPS robot took an average of 94 seconds. These developments highlight the strong potential of robotic harvesters in addressing key challenges faced by growers, such as labor shortages and cost management.