Fresh, frozen and processed berries are a multi-billion-dollar business in America. In Arkansas alone, fresh-market blackberries contribute $24.3 million each year to the state’s economy. But these delicate blackberries sold in clamshells at supermarkets must be picked by hand, and farm labor has been limited in recent years. A new berry-picking robot gripper developed at the U of A could give growers a high-tech replacement for limited labor availability.
The U.S patent was issued in April to the U of A for the invention “Soft Robotic Gripper for Berry Harvesting.” Technology Ventures, part of the Division of Research and Innovation, secured the patent.
The device was developed by Anthony Gunderman, at the time a Ph.D. student and now an assistant professor in U of A’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student.
Source : uark.edu