The firm Agrobot from Huelva, Spain, which presented the first prototype capable of harvesting strawberries, will manufacture more units of the robot in the United States.
The engineer who designed the robot, Juan Bravo, said that the tests conducted in American soil have been successful, and that the firm believes that it may even be possible to transfer some of the staff to work there directly. The robot has been used since the summer in the fields of Watsonville, in California, where 40% of the State's strawberries are produced, once California's entrepreneurs saw it working, still as a prototype, and were able to test it in experimental orchards.
The robot reduces harvesting costs by 50% for fresh strawberries and up to 90% for industrial strawberries, which are the ones used for the manufacturing of purees and yoghurts.
The prototype was created at Huelva's Agro-industry Technology Innovation Centre (Adesva), in the town of Lepe, member of the Technological Network of Andalusia (RETA), supported by the Region's Council of Innovation, Science and Business.
Source: Ideal