A multi-purpose robot which will partly do the pollination job of bees is under development as part of a research programme involving the University of Auckland.
Dr Bruce MacDonald, associate professor and director of the university's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's robotics group, is partnering the University of Waikato, Plant & Food Research and Tauranga company Robotics Plus to build a robot to pollinate kiwifruit and apples and then harvest them.
While the main thrust of the project, funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, is to export technology for the international kiwifruit and apple industries, recent concern about New Zealand honey bees' health is also spurring interest in the project.
Last spring, surprise honey bee colony losses were felt in the Coromandel, Waikato, Wairarapa, central North Island and other areas. On the Coromandel, beekeepers reported estimated production losses of 40-65 per cent of their honey crop.
There has been no positive identification in New Zealand of the colony collapse disorder (CCD) which has badly affected bee numbers in North America and Europe - but last year's bee losses looked worryingly similar. The disorder is a concern, not just for the beekeeping industry, but for New Zealand's orchardists, many of whom depend on the bee for pollination of their fruit.
"I am no bee expert," says Dr MacDonald, "but those who are tell me that, even when bees are working as normal, their success as pollinators is variable. This project, even with bees around, will help yields."
That's because kiwifruit and apple flowers can be difficult for a bee to reach - which is where the first application of the robot comes in.
MacDonald says the robot is being developed to identify and then 'target spray' the female flowers of the fruit with male pollen - the same function the bee performs when gathering nectar and pollen. Cameras are a key part of the robot, isolating the central part of the flower to be reached and allowing the robot to deliver a targeted payload of pollen.
"Some orchardists have tried manual pollination - but pollen is extremely expensive and the process uses a lot," says MacDonald. "Our system is designed to apply the pollen exactly where it is needed - with the mechanism bringing more consistency and thus better fruit yields to the orchard."
Then, phase two - where the 'multi' in the multi-purpose robot comes in. The orchardist detaches the pollination and spraying module and fits, to the same basic platform, the harvesting module with robot arms which pick the fruit pollinated earlier by the robot.
"It will certainly be a saving for those in the industry," says MacDonald. "A lot of labour is required at harvest time and it's not just a labour cost problem - it's also a management cost problem. A lot of that labour comes from outside the country and requires a lot of time from orchard managers."
Robotics Plus, one of the main partners in the project, has already developed a kiwifruit harvester prototype, a robotic apple packer and QuadDuster, a quad bike-based kiwifruit pollination system. Robotics Plus already has strong links with the apple industry in China and the US.
MacDonald says the company, part of the innovative Plus Group, is an essential part of the project, with the University of Waikato developing the mechatronics and Plant & Food Research and the university working on the "novel spraying technology" for firing droplets at tiny targets.
The project underlines how some of the best brains in the country - spanning universities, government departments, research institutes and private companies - are banding together to further the country's agricultural and horticultural interests.
Many other such agribusiness developments will be on show at Fieldays (June 15-18, Mystery Creek) although MacDonald said the multi-purpose robot isn't quite ready.
"It's a bit early; we have a couple of years to go and, even though we've had some success with the pollination part, we are still improving it and are testing harvesting; we're not quite ready for a full demo."
However, the robot, yet to be given a catchy name, is progressing parallel to a project at Harvard University in the US - also aimed at helping pollination if bee numbers come under continued or heavier pressure and to improve yields.
They are working on robot insects ("RoboBees") which visit flowers the way bees do but which have micro-chip and power issues to overcome. Their tiny size means even the smallest chips in existence are too big to be fitted and the same goes for a viable power supply.