DENSO CORPORATION and its group company, Certhon Build B.V., will begin accepting commercial orders for the fully automated cherry truss tomato harvesting robot, "Artemy," in Europe starting this May 14th.
Artemy is an innovative robot that can perform a series of cherry truss tomato harvesting tasks in a fully automatic manner.
Harvesting robot arm
The basic functions are as follows.
- Automatic Harvesting Function: It automatically runs on a running lane (a hot water tube installed in a greenhouse) and uses AI to determine the ripeness of cherry truss tomatoes. Only ripe tomatoes are selected, and cherry truss tomato peduncles are cut using scissors attached to the top of the harvesting robot arm and stored in the loaded crates.
- Automatic Lane Change Function: Artemy uses sensing technology to recognize obstacles in the path and the running lane to which it is traveling so it can move safely and accurately to adjacent running lanes even in trackless environment.
- Automatic Crates Replacement: Artemy automatically replaces a full crate.
- Automatic Crates Transfer: When all six crates are loaded, Artemy automatically moves to the trolley where the empty crates are placed and replaces all the crates at once.
Increasing operational efficiency
In addition, since Artemy has replaceable batteries, it can run for longer periods without down time for charging. It is also equipped with a cluster and a peduncle detection LED to achieve a highly accurate harvest under direct sunlight during the day and under supplemental lighting during the night.
These functions enable continuous operation throughout the day and night
These functions enable continuous operation throughout the day and night, helping increase operational efficiency, address potential labor shortages and significantly reduce heavy work for farmers. Artemy is scheduled to exhibit at "GreenTech Amsterdam," the world's largest horticultural trade show, held from June 11th to 13th in the Netherlands (Hall 5, stand 05.250).
Productivity-enhancing solutions
In the future, DENSO and Certhon will develop productivity-enhancing solutions starting with Artemy, which is capable of handling multiple crop varieties and tasks.
Also, the two companies will innovate greenhouse solutions by revolutionizing agricultural greenhouse structures and cultivation methods such as automated cultivation systems, aiming to deploy them globally. Through these efforts, DENSO and Certhon aim to contribute to the sustainable agriculture worldwide.
Achieving stable production
Hidehiro Yokoo, Senior Executive Officer in charge of the Food Value Chain Business Development Division at DENSO, said, “DENSO's expertise in mobility and manufacturing, encompassing image recognition, safe driving, and robotics, is integrated into all of Artemy's operations, from the automatic harvesting of cherry truss tomato to the automatic lane changes.”
“Going forward, DENSO will continue to combine its technology with Certhon's cultivation know-how and horticulture technology to achieve the stable production that DENSO and Certhon aim for worldwide, making it possible for ‘Growing anything, anywhere. For everyone.'”
Lotte van Rijn, CEO of Certhon, said, “Artemy, developed through extensive discussions with DENSO engineers and incorporating all of our cultivation expertise, is seamlessly and safely collaborating with humans on existing greenhouse. We are confident that Artemy will play a central role in the new agricultural production systems. Leveraging the expertise and technologies of both companies, we will continue to contribute to agriculture worldwide.”