Robotic Handling of Picked Fruit or Vegetables

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the, or each, storage system comprises a self-contained unit containing the filling location, storage region and robotic handling mechanism.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the, or each, robotic picking arm is mounted adjacent the filling location of the, or the respective, storage system.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, comprising a mass sensor configured to measure a mass of picked fruit or vegetables.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the storage region of the, or each, storage system is enclosed within an interior volume of a superstructure of the storage system, and the filling location of the, or each, storage system is outside of the interior volume.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the plurality of container locations in the storage region of the, or each, robotic handling mechanism are arranged in a generally horizontal array.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the storage region comprises one or more trays defining the plurality of container locations, the one or more trays being removable from the storage system to thereby remove filled fruit or vegetable containers.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the, or each, robotic handling mechanism comprises a handling end-effector configured to move linearly along any of the three axes of a Cartesian coordinate system.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the, or each, robotic handling mechanism comprises a movable carriage, the handling end-effector being mounted on the movable carriage.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein a handling end-effector of the, or each, robotic handling mechanism comprises an open-topped vessel for receiving picked fruit or vegetables from the, or the respective, picking arm.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the storage system comprises a mass sensor configured to measure a mass of a container of fruit or vegetables at the filling location.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the storage system comprises, at each container location, a mass sensor configured to measure a mass of a container of fruit or vegetables at the respective container location.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the, or each, storage system has an alternative filling location, and the, or each, robotic picking arm is controllable to deliver picked fruit or vegetables of a first quality to the filling location of the, or the respective, storage system and to deliver picked fruit or vegetables of a second quality different to the first quality to the alternative filling location of the, or the respective, storage system.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein each of the one or more robotic picking arms comprises a local storage vessel configured to receive a plurality of fruit or vegetables picked by the picking end-effector, and each of the one or more robotic picking arms is controllable to deliver picked fruit or vegetables from the local storage vessel to the respective filling location.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the one or more robotic picking arms are mounted on the base so that the one or more robotic picking arms are mounted at a mounting face of the picking system that faces forwardly and/or rearwardly in use.

A fruit or vegetable picking system according to any preceding claim, wherein the or each filling location is located on a mounting face of the storage system that faces forwardly and/or rearwardly in use.