After the pandemic prevented Israel-based Fresh Fruit Robotics from trialing its apple harvester in Washington orchards in 2020, the company and its collaborators had high hopes for 2021.The latest iteration of the robot — featuring six picking arms on each side, all of which can adjust to a variety of row widths, mounted onto an Automated Ag Systems platform that can load and discharge bins — and its team of engineers arrived, but supply chain challenges delayed parts for the diesel motor and other key components. They made do witha generator riding where a bin would typically load, and other workarounds, but it handicapped their efforts to do the larger-scale picking trials they had planned, said CEO Avi Kahani.
展开▼
