Following the successful completion of a Nuffield Farming Scholarship Mitchell McNab has taken a leading role in developing robotics in horticulture
Australia’s Young Farmer of the Year says robots can play a key role in tackling worker shortages and labour costs for fruit growers and is hands-on helping a Victorian based company start-up to develop an autonomous apple-picking machine to do just that.
Mitchell McNab at just 33-year-old was one of the standout winners at the Australian Farmer of the Year Awards for 2023, recognised for his dedication to the prosperity of the industry and finding innovative solutions to managing his family’s orchard in Shepparton VIC.
After completing a Nuffield Farming Scholarship looking into the use of robotics in horticulture in 2016, Mitchell McNab reached out to Ripe Robotics to offer the orchard for testing and trialling their apple-picking robot prototype, called Eve.
Years of hard work later, Eve has now started picking apples fully autonomously and is one step closer to full commercialisation.
Ripe Robotics CEO and Co-founder, Hunter Jay, said trialling the technology on McNab Orchards had been crucial to its development.
“The season’s finished now, but we’re hoping to be trialling again with Mitch next year,” Hunter Jay said.
“Mitch is very easy to work with. He’s been great letting us test as needed on his crops, even leaving some fruit up for us to test past the end of the season.
“Mitch is a hardworking, friendly and very capable grower, and I’m really happy he’s been recognised as the Young Farmer of the Year.”
Mr Jay said the reliance on traditional handpicking is resulting in fruit being damaged or left on trees.
“It’s a very slow, inefficient process that requires each worker to be trained to avoid bruising the fruit,” Hunter Jay added.
“It’s not surprising that fewer people are putting their hand up to do it, especially because the work is only available for half the year.
“Farmers used to rely on workers coming from Pacific Island nations like Samoa, but a lot of those governments aren’t allowing that now because they want to keep their skilled workers in the country.
“So even the people that do want to help out aren’t able to come and do it.
“Farmers spend months growing this fruit, and just can’t get people to harvest it. It’s a big, big problem.”
The Ripe Robotics solution picks apples, plums, peaches, and nectarines with a specially designed suction cup, using artificial intelligence to analyse each piece of fruit for size, colour and quality.
The company is raising a $2.8 million seed investment round to expand its commercial fleet to four machines.
Hunter Jay said they have two signed contracts worth up to $5 million per year, and expressions of interest from dozens of other growers in Australia, New Zealand, the US and Europe.
“We’ve now got the prototype machine autonomously picking a significant amount, so the next step is scaling up the fleet to the point of commercial viability,” Hunter Jay explained.
“With much less funding than our competitors, we have reached a similar stage with a machine that can be built and operated at a fraction of the price.
“We’re just at the beginning of our journey, so we’re looking for investors to come onboard who are as passionate as us about where artificial intelligence can take the industry,” Hunter Jay pondered.
Mitchell McNab agrees that innovative solutions are needed to ensure the long-term viability of the horticulture industry.
“Robotics could play a significant role in the future of horticulture, from the plantings right through to the packing sheds,” Mitchell McNab added.
“With labour an increasing issue in rural and regional areas, our industry needs to look at options that can support growth and sustainability, and robotics could be it,” Mitchell McNab concluded.
