The world's first automated mango picking robot has been used to harvest fruit in central Queensland.

The three-metre-tall robot has nine arms which extend to gently pick the fruit, turning it immediately to avoid sap burning the skin.

Machine inventor Kerry Walsh from Central Queensland University said that by using lights and sensors the machine can selectively pick mangoes and leave fruit that needed more ripening on the tree.

"The camera can recognise the fruit in 0.08 of a second. The arm can move out in about a second and grab the fruit," he said.

Researchers Zhenglin Wang and Kerry Walsh are seeing success with their robotic mango harvester. ( ABC Rural: Amy McCosker )

"The whole operation is done in 5 seconds."

The robot uses LED lights and sensors as well as cameras — like those used for facial-recognition — to estimate fruit weight, placement and ripeness.

"The machine faces the tree and the arms … reach out up to 1.7 metres, and then it raises itself to the height of the tree," Professor Walsh said.

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He said robotic harvesting techniques could be the answer to labour shortages and occupational risks to workers.

"If you go back decades, people squatted down in sheds counting and sorting fruit by hand. You don't do that anymore," Professor Walsh said.

"You have pack lines and automation. You still have workers, but now it's an easier job.

"Yet you go into the field, 40-degree heat, acidic sap, and you've got people picking fruit by hand. One by one.

"There is obviously a space for automation."

Producers watch with interest

Yeppoon mango grower Ian Groves inspects flowering trees at the fruit set stage. ( ABC Local: Alice Roberts )

Farmers who struggle every season to find enough workers to pick their fruit have said the robot could be a game changer.

Central Queensland grower Ian Groves said finding reliable workers to pick has been an ongoing issue for all mango farmers.

"Staffing, and management of staff, is actually one of the biggest challenges beside the weather and managing markets," he said.

"It's always a challenge when you've got a seasonal crop and a large workforce.

"You've got to train them all, do paperwork for them all. For backpackers you've got to check their visas."

Mr Groves said the idea of avoiding the hassle of finding and keeping a large workforce would be attractive to farmers, but agreed robots would not replace human workers altogether.

"It's going to be a long, long time before mechanical harvesting takes a big chunk of the staff required," he said.

"Then we will need a different type of staff who can man these machines and help with the technology."

More work to be done

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 52 seconds 1 m 52 s The mango harvester zeroes-in on the fruit in shed trials ( Supplied: CQ University )

The first version of the harvesting machine will need some refining before it is ready for broadscale use, according to its inventor.

"We're quite happy with the speed of recognition, but we need to put more work into the actual gripper, how it holds the fruit," Professor Walsh said.

"We also need to put more work into incorporating it into a harvest day, so what you would currently use in harvesting mangoes has a mango wash — a bin around the back — so we'll need to find a way to include all of that."

Mr Groves said once the issues were ironed out he could see it becoming a useful tool for the industry.

"It is really exciting. That's why I love having the team work on the farm because we get to have a glimpse of the future," he said.

"A glimpse of the possibilities of where technology can take us."