On the future of automated selective asparagus harvesting technology

This paper assesses the current state and likely future developments of automated selective asparagus harvesting. It reports the current stage of a research and development programme, based on a selective asparagus harvester concept embodying electronic technology, that has been underway since 1989 at the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Automation (CAMIA) in the University of Wollongong. The findings of some seminal field trials of current asparagus harvesting technologies conducted in the US in May 1995 by the Washington Asparagus Commission in which the CAMIA machine was included, are discussed. The implications of these results are examined in regard to the future development of automated selective asparagus harvesters. It is concluded that further research and development is needed to balance the technological and financial factors before the economic viability of mechanised selective asparagus harvesting is assured. In this context, the CAMIA concept of a selective asparagus harvester employing electronic technology provides a sound platform for exploiting on-going rapid developments in control and sensors.