Re:RoboCrop: Teaching robots how to pick tomatoes
by mcguirep on Wednesday December 10, 2025 @03:47PM
(#46223588)
> I'm thinking of "machine-pickable" as the natural next step for growers to aim for.
> Is this already being done?
This is, indeed, already something that is done. As I understand it, for tomatoes it's typically for canning varieties, but they're called determinate cultivars[1]. Even with those, I know in processing you still have to discard some fruits that aren't ripe.
I imagine this kind of technological solution would also be more useful when picking tomatoes for use as the fresh fruit.
> Is this already being done?
This is, indeed, already something that is done. As I understand it, for tomatoes it's typically for canning varieties, but they're called determinate cultivars[1]. Even with those, I know in processing you still have to discard some fruits that aren't ripe.
I imagine this kind of technological solution would also be more useful when picking tomatoes for use as the fresh fruit.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinate_cultivar