Banana industry welcomes research program into creating prototype robot arm for banana ‘de-handing’

The Australian banana industry is hopeful that a $2 million research program could see the creation of a prototype robot arm designed to “de-hand” bananas.

Queensland University of Technology, in collaboration with Future Food Systems, is leading the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub and BNL Industrial Solutions program, which aims to use machine learning and computer vision to come up with solutions for banana processing.

Hort Innovation is delivering the program.

Banana de-handing is the process of separating the banana fruit from the stalk, and is considered the most repetitive and intensive part of banana processing.

Australian Banana Growers Council chief executive officer Leanne Erakovic said the creation of a robot arm to de-hand bananas would be a “win-win” for both the industry and consumers by alleviating the pressures caused by de-handing.

“Currently there is no commercially available solution for the banana industry,” she said.

“Banana de-handing is a core process in all banana packing sheds, so any efficiencies that could be realised through the use of robotic technology would likely have a significant impact on growers’ processing costs.

“This technology has great potential to fulfil a task that is notoriously hard to resource, as it requires time and specific skills. On top of that, it could reduce manual handling fatigue and won’t impact overall job availability on-farm.”

Hort Innovation chief executive officer Brett Fifield agreed the program will be beneficial for the banana industry, and said it should be a key priority to invest in technology to make fruit and vegetable production easier.

“If successful, this type of technology could also be applied to other crop-types to support Aussie fruit and vegetable supply,” he said.

QUT lead researcher Dr Chris Lehnert said the goal for the program would be commercialisation.

“Over the next two years we will build the prototype robot for banana de-handing and then integrate that robot with a vision system that allows it to ‘see’ what actions it needs to perform, “ he said.

“The prototype will then be trialled at the ARM Hub’s testing facility where we will conduct further testing and allow growers and potential investors to come and see it action.”