Bowery Farming acquires Traptic, 3D vision and robotics harvesting startup
The technology will be used to accelerate the commercialization of fruiting and vine crops across communities in the U.S. and eventually the globe
Bowery Farming, the largest vertical farming company in the U.S., has acquired Traptic, a company utilizing computer vision, robotic arms and artificial intelligence (AI), to harvest fruiting, vine and other delicate crops, including strawberries, tomatoes and more. It will supplement the farming company’s robotics technology already deployed in its network and will be the first indoor farming company to use this technology.
Traptic combines 3D cameras and AI with robotic arms equipped with a unique gripper to harvest fragile fruit and vine crops. The vision system utilizes 3D cameras and neural networks to distinguish ripe from unripe produce, and determines their position with millimeter-precision. Then the AI figures out how the robotic arms should move to pick the ripe crops from their plants. Traptic’s technology is designed to work 24 hours per day, reduce food waste up to 20% and increase yields of high-quality, blemish-free produce.