A fruit-hauling robot developed by Washington State University graduate students and Heritage University undergraduates won a $5,000 prize at a recent competition judged by academics and agricultural industry experts.

The team received the Excellence in Small Farms Technology Award in the Farm Robotics Challenge.

“This was one of the robotics solutions they saw that has immediate commercialization possibilities,” said Manoj Karkee, director of WSU’s Center for Precision and Automated Agriculture Systems and team advisor.

With its navigation capabilities, the bin hauler could serve as a platform for other ground level tasks, including mowing, applying nutrients and detecting disease, Karkee added.

Labor problems, tech help

The team, which has five WSU students and six computer science and business majors from Heritage, spoke with several growers about bin handling efficiency in tree fruit orchards.

The group aimed to successfully automate the movement of empty and full fruit containers in and out of orchard rows.

When performed manually, hauling fruit bins can be labor-intensive, costly and result in damaged fruit.

Due to labor problems, farms are moving toward automation for tasks including harvesting and pruning.

“Even before the current immigration discussions, the farming industry has seen declining labor availability and increasing labor costs,” Karkee said.

“This has the potential of making an immediate impact while other technologies may take some time,” he added.

A very practical solution

WSU PhD student Dawood Ahmed, the team’s leader, said delivery bots don’t need advanced mechanical systems like automated harvesters and increase worker efficiency.

“This is a very practical solution right now to develop,” said Ahmed, who’s now at Cornell University.

“It’s a less complex thing to implement compared to robot apple pickers,” he added.

Other ag delivery bots exist, but the WSU and Heritage project is designed for orchards, with an attachment to lift heavy bins.

Karkee said the bin hauler can navigate where GPS signals might be spotty due to tree canopies and is programmed to change course for humans or obstacles.

The bin hauler had great accuracy in lifting bins and carrying them to drop-off zones.

The robot hauler also was tested in vineyards and could be applicable for many other crops.

A step toward full robotics

Robotics expert Professor Stavros Vougioukas of the University of California-Davis has focused much of his work on harvest aids such as delivery bots.

He said a similar delivery robot from Burro AI saved roughly 10% to 30% of strawberry work crews’ time, allowing them to harvest more acreage, or for farms to have fewer workers.

“Harvest aids are something that can be done tomorrow. It’s not space science,” Stavros said. “It’s an interesting step toward full robotics.”

Powerful local impact

Heritage University is a private school on the Yakima Indian Reservation in Toppenish, Wash., and has heavy Hispanic and Native American enrollment.

Jessica Black, professor of environmental science and studies, said students saw what they could strive for working closely with graduate students.

“For some of them, it was their first opportunity to work in robotics,” she said.

Many students have worked or have family working in fruit orchards, Black said.

She added that the project was powerful because students could see its potential for their own community.