Design and performance evaluation of a strawberry gripper for greenhouse elevated culture harvesting

Abstract

This thesis addresses the problem of automating strawberry picking in elevated greenhouse settings. Strawberry farming is a relevant agricultural activity worldwide, as it has a broad economic impact that will continue to grow with the demand for fresh fruit products. Strawberry crops are hand-picked due to the fruit’s delicate nature, which incurs higher costs in time and logistics. Harvesting year-round in controlled greenhouse environments increases this output. Automation of strawberry harvesting could be a potential solution to increase process efficiency and reduce costs. The design, development, and evaluation of end effectors for automated strawberry harvesting allowed for a final tilting robotic gripper capable of detaching greenhouse strawberries with minimal damage. The work was done through multiple prototype iterations that integrated findings from mechanical performance, in-lab testing, and field observations. Overall, this work assesses the feasibility of a tilting-based harvesting mechanism and contributes insights into mechanical interactions, sensing requirements, and variety-dependent behaviour in automated strawberry picking mechanisms, thereby widening the state of the art.2026-12-1