Moses Lake, Israeli companies partner to create apple picking robot

MOSES LAKE — An apple picking robot — it isn’t something out of a sci-fi movie. It is the creation of Automated AG, of Moses Lake and FFRobotics, of Netanya, Israel.

J.J. Dagorret, owner of Automated AG in Moses Lake, has partnered with FFRobotics, an Israeli company, to help apple orchards deal with the shortage in workers. The robot scans the tree and identifies the apples to be picked. Then it uses robotic arms to pick the fruit. Once it has picked all of the fruit, the machine is able to move on to the next tree.

“I’m excited about this machine,” said Dagorret.

Dagorret has been making machines to help farmers and orchardists for approximately 22 years. During that time, he made 12 different machines including bin carriers, bin trailer, picking platforms, sanitary stations, shower stations, watermelon machine and a produce rover. His products are all over the world.

A few years ago, FFRobotics approached Dagorret about combining their two products.

“I met with these guys a couple years ago,” Dagorret said. “They were just getting fired off.”

In February, they met again. Dagorret invited the FFRobotics team to come to Moses Lake and put their robot on his machine frame. The goal — to have a machine ready for this year’s apple harvest.

“This is a prototype,” Dagorret said. “The next machine will look a lot different.”

The machine is designed to go between rows of apple trees. The driver, located in the back of the machine, stops the machine and plants the robot stabilizer feet. The robot then scans the machine and identifies the apples. It’s identification is based off factors such as color and size. It can also identify if an apple has bird pecks, hail damage or some other factor that would make it an undesirable apple.

Once the tree and apples have been identified, the robotic arms begin picking. There are six arms on each side. Each arm has a three-pronged hand covered in rubber. The hands place the apples on a small, rubber, horizontal conveyor belt. The apples are transported to a vertical conveyor belt that takes them to a vacuum tube. They are then deposited on to a table where the stems can be clipped off of the apple. From there, the apples are placed into the apple bin by the machine.

When all the apples have been picked, the robots stabilizer feet pick up and the machine is able to move to the next tree. The machine is only in one spot for a couple of minutes.

FFRobotics has been working on the robot for five years.

“We’re a startup company,” Avi Kahari, one of the mechanical engineers said. “We established it for this type of solution for fresh fruit harvesting.”

Kahari worked as an orchard manager in the 1980s.

“A long time ago,” he said with a laugh.

He is one of three partners in the company. One of the other partners is also a mechanical engineer with 30 years experience in equipment such as tractors and army equipment. The other partner is in business development.

Kahari and Or Hirshfeld, a control software engineer, came to Moses Lake to set up the robot and make the necessary recalibrations.

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@suntribunenews.com.