Selective Harvesting Robotics: Current Research, Trends, and Future Directions

TLDR

The worldwide demand for agricultural products is rapidly growing, but labor shortages limit production, driving interest in selective harvesting robots, which face challenges from high variation, incomplete information, and safety concerns. The review investigates how further automation of agriculture can address labor shortages and production challenges. The authors survey selective harvesting robotics across greenhouse, orchard, and open‑field systems. Selective harvesting of high‑value crops remains largely manual and labor‑intensive, and the review identifies current system limitations while proposing future research directions.

Abstract

Abstract Purpose of Review The world-wide demand for agricultural products is rapidly growing. However, despite the growing population, labor shortage becomes a limiting factor for agricultural production. Further automation of agriculture is an important solution to tackle these challenges. Recent Findings Selective harvesting of high-value crops, such as apples, tomatoes, and broccoli, is currently mainly performed by humans, rendering it one of the most labor-intensive and expensive agricultural tasks. This explains the large interest in the development of selective harvesting robots. Selective harvesting, however, is a challenging task for a robot, due to the high levels of variation and incomplete information, as well as safety. Summary This review paper provides an overview of the state of the art in selective harvesting robotics in three different production systems; greenhouse, orchard, and open field. The limitations of current systems are discussed, and future research directions are proposed.