Automated harvesting of flowers and cuttings

The harvesting of flowers and cuttings can be considered as a skilled task. It takes weeks of training for the pickers to harvest quality cutting at the required production rate of one per second. The skill of the pickers is the ability to execute a number of functions within a short time. The pickers of Chrysanthemum cuttings localize cuttings, judge it on quality measures, determine the cutting spot, cut and store the cutting within one second. The automation of the entire harvesting process will require a significant research effort to find solutions to replace these functions. A two way approach is followed. For the long term basic solutions for the different functions will be investigated. For the short term a harvesting aid will be developed which enables the picker to increase the quality of the cuttings and store the cuttings individually in a well defined orientation and position. The individual storage will open the way to automated planting of the cuttings.