English viticulture looks to a robotic future

A new project aims to assess the ability of robots in the vineyard to replace the task of pruning and harvesting grapes, which has traditionally been an intensive job that is heavily reliant on seasonal workers.

The research project will be a three-year partnership between Queen Mary University of London, Extend Robotics, and East Anglia-based vineyard Saffron Grange, as part of funding from the government and Innovate UK on technology in agriculture.

Called “Integrated Human-Augmented Robotics and Intelligent Sensing Platform for Precision Viticulture”, the research project will see the technology firm and university researchers work with sparkling wine producer Saffron Grange to develop AI-based solutions to enable the robotic automation of tasks such as pruning and harvesting.

It is hoped the project will show how vineyards can reduce labour costs as well as cut the emissions and environmental impact of current approaches to viticulture. The ultimate aim of the research is to “significantly improve the productivity and sustainability of the UK viticulture industry while also providing a competitive edge in the global market”, Extend Robotics said.

Founder and CEO of Extend Robotics, Dr Chang Liu added: “The viticulture industry in the UK may well be over 1,000 years old, but it has continually moved with the times. This is simply an exciting continuation of that progress.

“Our technology will allow growers to remotely monitor crop health, identify potential issues early on, and take appropriate action. Using AI, they will then be able to automate general tasks and improve the efficiency of their operations over time, resulting in better overall crop quality and higher yields.

“We’re going to change the face – and future – of viticulture in the UK.”

Alongside Extend Robotics virtual reality-based teleoperation systems, scientists from Queen Mary’s will add their expertise in remote sensing and image spectral analysis.

Dr Ketao Zhang, senior lecturer in robotics at Queen Mary, said: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Extend Robotics and Saffron Grange to bring high tech robotics into wine growing. Our technology will allow growers to remotely monitor crop health, identify potential issues early on, and take appropriate action, resulting in better overall crop quality and higher yields. The precision manipulation and perception system with a virtual reality interface will enable growers to perform tasks such as pruning and harvesting more efficiently and accurately, reducing labour costs, emissions, and reliance on seasonal migration. The cloud-connected AI components will help to automate general tasks to improve efficiency.”

Dr Lei Su, reader in hotonics at Queen Mary, added: “We are very excited about exploring our AI based optical imaging and analysis technology in agriculture. We expect this not only to transform the future harvesting practice in vineyards, but also to provide the best quality grapes for making high-quality wines.”

Last year, Friulano estate Ca’ Bolani began testing the Slopehelper, a cutting edge agriculture robot.

The Slopehelper robot was developed by Slovenian electric vehicle manufacturer PeK Automotive, part of Peker Holding. Mounted on caterpillar tracks and run entirely on electricity, it can operating for eight to 14 hours at a time, and is capable of working over a range of terrains and in a range of weather conditions. As the name suggests, it is well-suited to inclines, and can tackle slopes of up to 42°.