Machinery manufacturer Kubota is among the investors to back agtech company Tevel Aerobotics Technologies, which is developing flying fruit-picking robots.

The Israeli-based agtech company was founded in 2017 and recently secured $20m in investor funding.

The company is developing autonomous flying robots capable of picking fruit by combining AI with computer vision, advanced robotics, aeronautical engineering, flight control and data perception.

Attached to the drone is a three-foot-long claw for grabbing and picking the fruit.

Self-driving power source

Each robot is connected to a self-driving mobile vehicle, which is also the power source.

Each vehicle is equipped with six flying robots.

The company says its solution delivers the highest performance at the lowest cost, along with high levels of flexibility that enable the harvest of various fruits, including apples, pears and avocado.

Tevel has solved multiple technological challenges and is now expected to commercially launch the system this year.

Fruit picking

Every year, over 800t of fruits are produced in an area of 70m ha worldwide.

Globally, farmers spend an estimated €82bn annually on fruit picking and recruit over 10 million temporary workers.

However, securing temporary workers is proving a challenge worldwide.

The global pandemic has only compounded this challenge, Tevel said.

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