Researchers building robot that can help pick table grapes

Mechanical engineering professor Tomonari Furukawa is building an autonomous grape-harvester that can delicately pick table grapes — a task difficult in research sponsor Mahindra’s home location of India. These grapes are so delicate, explains Furukawa, they must be individually wrapped in paper to prevent overexposure to the sun. Complementing this problem, the grapes’ ripeness is difficult to discern for the human eye. Using cameras and computer vision algorithms, Furukawa’s robot can spot when grapes are ripe, and human pickers can direct the robot to harvest.