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A robot invented using European cash to pick cauliflowers on Cornish farms could replace EU migrant workers no longer coming to the UK due to concerns about Brexit.

The brassica harvester robot has been pioneered by Plymouth University in collaboration with some of the biggest producers of cauliflower and cabbages in the UK.

The GummiArm robot and its cutting-edge technology, which has been trialled on Cornish farms is seen as a potential answer to any migrant staff shortages that may arise when Britain leaves the European Union in March 2019, which is the Brexit deadline set out by the Government.

(Image: University of Plymouth)

The £10 million part-funded three-year EU Automated Brassica harvest in Cornwall (ABC) project, led by robotics lecturer Martin Stoelen, with agricultural expertise from Professor of plant physiology Mick Fuller, has been heralded as the answer to staff shortage brought on by Brexit.

"A lot of producers are very worried about where they will get their reasonably priced manual labour from – and rightly so," said Dr Stoelen. "Manual harvesting also represents a large portion of their total costs. Often it can be up to 50% so looking at addressing that, especially against a backdrop of Brexit, is very important."

The project has also involved Cornish machinery firm Teagle Machinery Ltd, CNC Design Ltd and Riviera Produce, which owns and operates some 5,500 acres of farm land near Hayle.

David Simmons, the managing director of Riviera Produce who has been working in the industry for 30 years, sees the harvester robot as the answer to staff shortages that may arise from last year and have already been felt throughout the industry.

(Image: University of Plymouth)

Only in November he warned that some of Cornwall's largest food growers could see broccoli, cauliflowers and flowers rot in fields if there is no-one to harvest their crops after Brexit.

The agriculture and horticulture industries fear a lack of access to migrant workers brought on by a hard Brexit could bring the sectors to its knees as farms no longer have the manpower to pick vegetables and flowers such as daffodils from the fields. Cornwall is one of the largest producers of brassica - cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower - in the UK and the world's largest producer of daffodils.

Farming relies heavily on migrant workers, especially from Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria or Lithuania. Of the 450 staff Mr Simmons employs, 400 are from Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria or Romania.

However the uncertainty created by the seemingly confused and confusing Brexit negotiations has left the industry and its migrant workers pondering their future.

He said: "Harvesting costs can be up to 40% of the costs of production of brassicas and skilled labour to do the harvesting is getting increasingly difficult to obtain, especially with Brexit fast approaching. In a very competitive marketplace where our customers demand cheap food, the cost of harvesting is continually rising. Robotic harvesting has the potential to increase productivity and control the costs."

(Image: University of Plymouth)

The new robot was designed to be a 'little helper' which can pick vegetable from the fields in the same way humans do.

With support from the Agri-tech Cornwall Project (ACP) – an initiative supporting research, development and innovation in the agricultural, horticultural and food sectors in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – Dr Stoelen has been designing, building and testing a rig under field conditions.

Through this project, and his spinout company Fieldwork Robotics Ltd, he is also exploring potential business models which would bring the technology to market within two to three years and which could involve the machines being owned by contractors, with farmers buying in the service when required.

This new work will build on the successes of Dr Stoelen’s GummiArm robot, which has two arms and, in many ways, moves more like a human than a machine. At the heart of his vision is the concept of ‘variable stiffness’ – robotic arms with joints that can be made soft or stiff, depending on the task.

Cameras and sensors in its “hands” can make real-time 3D models of the crop by assessing the information it assimilates, allowing it to recognise which parts to collect and which to leave.

With such robots recording images and touch-data from all over a field in real-time, they also bring the possibility of gathering information that could be used in a variety of ways, potentially extending their application to beyond harvest.

(Image: University of Plymouth)

"These robots are going to be a massive big-data application," Dr Stoelen said. "Machines could even be ‘repurposed’ throughout the growing season, allowing the core technology to be rolled out to other operations – such as weeding or the application of pesticides.

"If the robot is reconfigurable it could be relevant to other brassicas and indeed other crops. Ultimately, machines such as this will make life easier and simpler as a farmer. It’s also cool technology which might encourage more young people to choose a career in agriculture.

"This technology is evolving rapidly, costs are coming down and developments can happen fast which means it’s not too long before technology like this becomes a practical and commercially viable reality.

"On a global scale it could bring massive efficiencies and improve the industry’s safety record as there would be fewer people working so closely with large, moving machinery. Agriculture has been under-estimated as a potential area for applying advance robotics but now could be its time."

Robin Jackson, director of the ACP, added: "Farmers have always been pioneers as far as technology is concerned, but the scale of the current challenges we face means we now need a step-change in terms of the rate at which the whole land-based sector develops and applies new technology.

"It will help address global issues, such as feeding the growing population and mitigating climate change, but it will also boost profit and efficiency at an individual farm level."

(Image: University of Cornwall)

ACP is a three-year, £10 million initiative supporting research, development and innovation into agricultural technologies that boost the agricultural, horticultural and food sectors in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and is led by the Duchy College’s Rural Business School in partnership with Plymouth University, the University of Exeter, Rothamsted Research and Cornwall Development Company.

Part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, with match-funding from Cornwall Council and research partners, it helps small and medium-sized companies and organisations develop ideas to improve efficiency, profitability and resilience.

Launched in 2017, it’s already supporting a wide range of activities which will generate innovative goods and services that can be used by farms and their immediate supply chains, and help the individuals and families who work in these areas.