Akihabara News (Tokyo) — A new tomato harvesting robot manufactured by Kamakura-based startup inaho has been set loose on Tomatoworld, a horticultural information and education center in the Netherlands.
Takahito Shimizu, managing director of inaho Europe, explains that putting the robot in Tomatoworld allows more people to become aware that such technology currently exists. It also enables the company to receive feedback from growers for future improvements.
Before being put to use in Tomatoworld, the tomato harvesting robot had undergone field trials with growers in Japan. inaho concluded that the robot helps reduce human working hours by around 16% when being set up to harvest during the nighttime.
On the other hand, since the robot identifies ripe fruits by color and size, the differences between Japanese and Dutch growers’ harvesting practices may cause difficulties.
Shimizu explained that farmers’ standards for the appropriate color of the fruits and the harvesting frequency varies between Japan and the Netherlands. Therefore, by deploying the robot to Tomatoworld, inaho expects to gain more insight about Dutch farmers, and thus to adjust the differences accordingly.
inaho’s tomato harvesting robot was developed in 2020, aiming to solve labor shortages arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
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