Following the machines, people and ideas shaping agriculture. Selected developments, clear context and a link to the original source.
Robotics. Intelligence. Agriculture.
19 stories in Greenhouse automation.
A June 2020 competition announcement paired agricultural researchers and experienced growers in Yunnan, testing how sensing, greenhouse automation and cultivation knowledge could contribute to strawberry quality and productivity.
Dogtooth’s strawberry-harvesting robot appeared at the 2023 Global Investment Summit, bringing a commercial agricultural-robotics example into a UK investment showcase and highlighting automation for tabletop fruit production systems.
A University of Essex prototype was trialled with Wilkin & Sons in 2024, exploring affordable robotic strawberry handling and a workflow that continues beyond detaching fruit from the plant.
The European project combined soft gripping and machine vision in a harvesting prototype, with trials in Greece and Ireland revealing both successful picks and the impact of real facility constraints.
A Wageningen report on the European harvesting robot documented faster pepper picking while highlighting the continuing limits imposed by cycle time, foliage, clustered fruit and access within greenhouse rows.
The 2025 GreenTech Americas programme in Querétaro connected hydroponic cultivation, labour efficiency, irrigation and climate adaptation, bringing protected-crop technology discussions into a Latin American production context.
GreenTech announced SAIA Agrobotics as its 2025 Robot Challenge winner, alongside a programme connecting greenhouse robotics with imaging, future cultivation systems and autonomous water management.
GreenTech’s 2026 Robot Challenge recognised the 4X Delta Cobot for plant transplanting, highlighting how industrial robotic handling is being adapted to repetitive work in commercial horticulture.
The University of the Free State’s new greenhouse combines applied crop trials with training in data-led management under semi-arid conditions.
A newly published two-season experiment examines how thermostatically controlled root-zone temperatures affect cucumber growth and yield.
Measured plant models and synthetic vision data are helping researchers compare robot designs in a greenhouse environment that can be reset.
New Macdonald Campus infrastructure combines hands-on greenhouse teaching with a joint plant-phenotyping platform involving Université de Sherbrooke.
