Systems and methods for automatically picking and coring lettuce and cabbage

An apparatus for picking and coring produce heads, comprising:

• a chassis;
• a rotating clamp wheel having one or more clamps, each configured to hold a produce head;
• a lift arm that couples the clamp wheel with the chassis, wherein the lift arm is configured to controllably raise and lower the clamp wheel;
• a righting mechanism configured to position a planted produce head in a vertical orientation;
• a trigger mechanism that detects when a planted head is in a position to be severed;
• a severing mechanism configured to sever a planted produce head from a soil bed;
• and
• a coring mechanism configured to remove a core of a clamped produce head;
• wherein in operation, as the apparatus travels along a soil bed, the righting mechanism receives and orients planted produce heads, wherein when a planted head is in the position to be severed, the lift arm and clamp wheel are controlled to position a clamp proximal to the planted head, wherein the planted head is clamped and the severing mechanism severs the planted head from the soil bed, wherein the lift arm and clamp wheel re-position the clamped and severed head proximal to the coring mechanism, and wherein the coring mechanism automatically removes the core of the clamped and severed head.