AI-powered robot delivers impressive performance in harvesting winter jujubes in NW China's Shaanxi

An artificial intelligence (AI)-powered jujube harvesting robot undergoes testing in a winter jujube greenhouse in Dali county, Weinan city, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo/Zhao Zhuoyu)

An artificial intelligence (AI)-powered harvesting robot equipped with a precision vision system was recently tested for the first time in Dali county, Weinan city, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, achieving a ripe fruit picking success rate of nearly 85 percent and a fruit damage rate of less than 8 percent in harvesting winter jujubes.

The test took place at a farm with winter jujube greenhouses. During the test, the robot slowly moved through rows of winter jujube trees, extended its robotic arm deep into the foliage, locked onto a ripe jujube, gently gripped it with its soft gripper, and dropped it into a collection basket.

The successful test brought hope to winter jujube growers in Dali county, where the fruit represents a major industry and its planting area has reached 420,000 mu (28,000 hectares).

"During the harvest season, we have to enter the greenhouses before dawn just to pick as many jujubes as we can before sunrise," said Shen Honggang, a fruit grower from Liangyi township in Dali county.

Researchers test an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered jujube harvesting robot in a winter jujube greenhouse in Dali county, Weinan city, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo/Zhao Zhuoyu)

To meet local farmers' growing demand for smart agricultural tools like AI harvesting robots, a robotics company based in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, partnered with a robotics research team from Harbin Institute of Technology's Shenzhen campus to develop a solution.

With funding from the company, technological expertise from the research team, and experimental jujube fields provided by local authorities in Dali county, a three-way collaboration was initiated.

According to credible sources, the harvesting robot recently tested in Dali, named Lanxia, was the first-generation AI harvesting robot developed through the collaboration.