Robot boosts blueberry picking efficiencies

Michael Back and his son Simon, owners of the Backsberg wine estate between Paarl and Franschhoek in the Western Cape, had a problem at blueberry harvest time: their pickers were having to walk up to 150m to and from quality-control centres to deliver the fruit. The inefficiency of the system was obvious, so the Backs set out to find a way of reducing walking time and increasing the hours dedicated to picking and sorting.

Simon explains that they didn’t want to use tractors, as their orchard rows are narrow (2m to 2,5m depending on the variety), and tractors would have to move past farmworkers, whose numbers grow to over 300 in peak season from August to November.

Aside from this, tractors are heavy on fuel, have a high carbon footprint, increase the risk of compaction, and require drivers.

“We were looking for a conveyer-like solution onto