July 2023 - 11

AG TECH
Advances in technology have increased the amount of time drones can stay airborne
and the weight of payloads they carry. Photo courtesy of University of Florida.
Drones are unlocking applications that
growers couldn't do with current physical tools.
Photo courtesy of Won Suk Lee, University of Florida.
Tevel's fruit-picking flying autonomous robots are
helping growers deal with labor shortages. Artificial
intelligence and computer vision algorithms power
" hands " on the flying robots which pick tree fruit.
At HMC Farms in Kingsburg, California, Tevel's robots
harvest stone fruit, including peaches, nectarines and
plums. While many technologies are focused on the larger
apple industry, Drew Ketelsen, HMC's vice president, said
it's good that other tree fruit industries can benefit.
" These flying robots are a simple and novel solution
as far as freedom of mobility, " Ketelsen said. " They go
up and down, left and right, and turn side to side. It's all
the motion of the fans, moving up and down and doing
all those motions autonomously without having to be
attached to a big piece of equipment.
" You've got a place for it to drop the fruit and load the
fruit into a bin, and it flies around, " Ketelsen said. " This
little 2-foot-by-2-foot machine can go wherever it needs
to go to pick the fruit. It seems really efficient and a
smart way to move along the harvest. "
By picking fruit, like these apples, Tevel's flying
autonomous robots help growers deal with labor
shortages. Photo courtesy of Tevel.
While Tevel drones at HMC are primarily used for
harvesting, they can also provide per-piece-level data.
Knowing size breakdowns is important for supplying
customers harvest information and helps manage the
packing by providing information on what's coming from
the fields, Ketelsen said.
Crop reveal
Other drones fly over HMC's vineyards for field
analysis. The company uses plastic to protect table
grapes from rain and wind, and drone images show
areas of weakness and where the plastic requires
repair, avoiding the time-consuming need to walk
vineyard rows.
Agricultural technology company Hylio manufactures
UAS for precision crop treatment applications. The
Houston-based Hylio helps growers apply crop
treatments directly to problem areas, allowing growers
to increase yields by addressing pests and deficiencies
FRUITGROWERSNEWS.COM | 11

http://www.FRUITGROWERSNEWS.COM

July 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of July 2023

Editor's Letter
Pest Control: The nose knows
Ag Tech: Drone deployment
Cover Story: Keeping it fresh
Irrigation & Water Management: Stressed out
Berries: Pinpoint precision
Plant & Soil Health: What's good for the gooseberry ...
CA Storage: Keeping control
Farm Market & Agritourism: Agreements between growers provide opportunities
CMI
Ag Labor Review
Classifieds
Advertiser Index
July 2023 - 1
July 2023 - 2
July 2023 - 3
July 2023 - Editor's Letter
July 2023 - 5
July 2023 - Pest Control: The nose knows
July 2023 - 7
July 2023 - 8
July 2023 - 9
July 2023 - Ag Tech: Drone deployment
July 2023 - 11
July 2023 - 12
July 2023 - 13
July 2023 - Cover Story: Keeping it fresh
July 2023 - 15
July 2023 - Irrigation & Water Management: Stressed out
July 2023 - 17
July 2023 - Berries: Pinpoint precision
July 2023 - 19
July 2023 - 20
July 2023 - 21
July 2023 - Plant & Soil Health: What's good for the gooseberry ...
July 2023 - 23
July 2023 - CA Storage: Keeping control
July 2023 - 25
July 2023 - Farm Market & Agritourism: Agreements between growers provide opportunities
July 2023 - 27
July 2023 - CMI
July 2023 - 29
July 2023 - Ag Labor Review
July 2023 - 31
July 2023 - Classifieds
July 2023 - 33
July 2023 - Advertiser Index
July 2023 - 35
July 2023 - 36
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