Technology / Rural

Easing horticulture labour shortages with robots

09:35 am on 29 June 2020

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The widespread shortage of horticultural labour throughout the regions could be eased in future by fruit picking robots and automonous vehicles to spray crops. Tauranga based Robotics Plus co-founder Steve Saunders has gone from being a grower to leading the global agri-tech company. The company is working on a range solutions that could be applied to ease the issue of crops rotting because of the lack of seasonal labour - particularly relevant during the COVID-19 restrictions.Asparagus harvesting, apple sorting and packing and picking a variety of fruit could in future be harvested by robotics machines.