The automated system will not only handle lettuces, but will also control the temperature, humidity and CO2 levels, as well as sterilise water and control light sources.
Lettuce growing is not the only agricultural sector in Japan that is turning to robots to address a dwindling and ageing workforce.
The agricultural machinery firm Kubota is one of several Japanese companies that are developing “muscle suits” for use by care providers, factory workers and ageing farmers.
A robot developed by the firm Shibuya Seiki and the national agriculture and food research organisation can pick strawberries at the rate of one every eight seconds.
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Last December, Panasonic began field tests of a robot that uses a camera and image sensor to detect ripe tomatoes on the vine, before picking them, without damaging them, at the rate of about one every 20 seconds.