A Cambridge-area company that builds autonomous robots to pick strawberries and other soft fruit.
Dogtooth Technologies builds robots that pick soft fruit, such as strawberries, without human pickers. The robots use cameras and computer vision to work out which fruit is ripe, then use a robotic arm to pick it carefully and move on. A report in The Engineer says the aim is to raise the share of fruit that is picked in a saleable condition and to reduce waste. Because fruit is soft, easily bruised and hidden among leaves, picking is a hard problem for a machine, and that is why it is such a good challenge for robotics.
The Engineer article says Dogtooth was a start-up near Cambridge that tested a first prototype in the field in summer 2016, with a second generation under way. It took part in an EPSRC-funded project called Vesca with the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge, which aimed to improve the robots' computer vision, movement planning and machine learning so they could find fruit and judge whether it was ready. A more recent article names Duncan Robertson as chief executive and quotes him on helping to "transform fruit and vegetable production". The sources do not name the founders, and we did not find a longer mission statement.
Dogtooth is based in Cambridge, UK. The recent article says its robots are in commercial use in the UK and overseas, and it names Dyson Farming as a customer where its fifth-generation robot was trialled. Dyson Farming is a large UK farming business, so the robots work in real British fields and polytunnels, not only in a laboratory. The articles we read do not list specific sites or a head office address.
The company says its central goal is to help growers keep output steady when labour is hard to find. That makes it a company with a clear, practical purpose, and it gives a different picture of robotics from factories and warehouses. We found no description of company culture or team size, so we have not guessed. In general, a business that builds field robots needs people who are willing to test machines outdoors and work with growers, as well as people in the lab.
Robots like these need computer vision and machine learning engineers, mechanical and electronics engineers who design arms and grippers, software engineers who plan movement, field engineers who set up and look after machines on farms, and commercial staff who work with growers. Agriculture and technology may seem far apart, but this company shows how closely they are now linked. If you enjoy plants, food, computing or engineering, there are many routes into this kind of work. Check the company's own site for what it is doing now.
Website: www.dogtooth.tech
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