The agricultural sector faces persistent workforce shortages combined with rising labor costs, a dual challenge that has led to more automation in this industry and an increase in the food robotics market. 

However, robotizing fresh food handling is still challenging. Fresh food such as fruits or vegetables requires flexibility, the ability to handle variety, and a delicate touch to prevent damage. These needs are addressed by cutting-edge technologies that are making robotics more flexible using AI Vision. For example, the Flexible Food Picker can delicately handle a high variety of fruits and vegetables with differing shapes, sizes, and ripeness.  Intelligent robotics such as the Flexible Food Picker contributes to waste reduction, improved food safety, and enhanced speed & throughput.  

Common challenges in fresh produce handling

Companies in the agriculture industry that handle fresh produce experience challenges such as labor shortages, waste due to product damage, operational inefficiencies, and a struggle to adapt to a wide variety of fresh produce.  

For example, Boerschappen is a cooperative that aims to make the food chain in the Netherlands more sustainable. They source fresh food from local framers and deliver it directly to customers. Their packing process involves distributing and placing many different fresh farmer’s products into food boxes. This needs time-consuming and costly manual labor. Moreover, their technology is mostly designed around manual labor, which means it is not easily scalable. 

For companies like Boerschappen, a standard robotic arm to handle picking and packing for their products is not enough. It can damage the products, leading to more waste, and it can’t handle a wide variety of produce.  

In the context of a labor shortage crisis, fresh food companies need more flexible robotics solutions. This is where products like the Flexible Food Picker come in.  

Gentler, faster handling and product recognition with less waste, thanks to flexible robotics control

Flexible robotics improves the handling of delicate fruit and vegetables by combining different gripper types with smart AI vision systems. This is how it works: 

  • Food-grade robotic arms with adjustable grippers can adapt to each product without causing damage.  
  • By integrating AI-powered vision systems, the robots can recognize the type of fruit or vegetable in real time.  
  • They can pick irregularly shaped produce, with high precision levels, leading to higher accuracy.  

This combination of gentle handling and fast, accurate recognition increases throughput while also reducing waste. Overall, a flexible robotics control system can deliver a strong return on investment by cutting labor costs, increasing throughput, and lowering waste. 

Introducing the Flexible Food Picker

The Flexible Food Picker combines AI Vision and Robotics into an integrated system that turns picking and packing into an optimized, flexible process. It is a great example of next-generation flexible robotics that can address labor shortages while reducing costs and waste.  

Its integrated AI vision and flexible control system enable it to handle various types, sizes, and shapes of produce without extensive reprogramming. This flexibility allows easy adaptation to changing production lines and product mixes. 

The Flexible Food Picker helps producers address labor gaps, enhance product quality, and operate more sustainably. 

Explore what's possible with flexible robotics control.

Why choose Cboost?

  • End-to-end custom solutions turned into products
  • Deep technical expertise
  • Focus on seamless integration
  • Working towards more sustainable, resilient industries

In an industry where every tomato and berry should count, the challenges of labor shortages and delicate handling can seem daunting. But the rise of flexible robotics is changing this. These intelligent systems combine the gentle precision of soft grippers with AI-powered vision, enabling faster, safer, and more sustainable fresh produce handling. 

The Flexible Food Picker is a prime example of this. It adapts effortlessly to the wide variety and nuances of fresh fruits and vegetables, while seamlessly fitting into existing production lines. It doesn’t replace manual labor; it elevates the entire process by reducing waste and boosting efficiency alongside employees. 

Lets
get in
touch.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
How would you like to be contacted?(Required)