Towards autonomous selective harvesting: A review of robot perception, robot design, motion planning and control

Climate change and population growth have created significant challenges for global food production, and ensuring food security requires a resilient food-production system. One of the most labour-intensive tasks in agriculture and food production is selective harvesting, which is vulnerable to risks such as a shortage of adequate labour force. To address this challenge, there is a growing need for robots that can deliver precise and efficient harvesting operations. However, developing robots for selective harvesting presents several technological challenges and raises a range of intriguing scientific questions. This paper provides an overview of the available robotic technologies for the selective harvesting of high-value crops and discusses the latest advancements and challenges in the relevant technology domains, including robotic hardware, robot perception, robot planning, and robot control. Additionally, this paper presents several open research questions that can serve as a research focus for further development in this field.