Apparatus and systems for selective crop harvesting

A robotic end-effector 100 for fruit harvesting comprises a vision system for locating a ripe fruit on a plant, a pair of clearing arms 102 for pushing aside any obstacles that occlude the identified fruit, a pair of jaws 104 for gripping a stem of the fruit, a sensor detecting when the stalk is located between the jaws, and a cutting mechanism 106 for slicing the stem so that the jaws hold the fruit by its stem during and after cutting, e.g. gripping it immediately below the cutter. The cutter may engage a groove in one jaw through a slot (208, Fig. 7) in the other jaw. Actuating the clearing arms may drive them apart, parting foliage or sweeping other obstructions away from the identified fruit, and they may be fingers with haptic sensors for measuring forces exerted on the moved objects, e.g. as feedback for force-controlled actuation of the clearing arms. The sensor may be a proximity or image sensor, e.g. a pair of RGB image sensors providing stereo vision of the stalk, and may trigger jaw closure to grip the stem. The manipulator is particularly suitable for harvesting crops that grow in dense clusters, such as strawberries.