Labor costs for greenhouse operators have been increasing for many years. To
get labor costs under control and become future proof automation is
needed. Westburg Greenhouse, a commercial grower located in the Netherlands,
sought a scalable solution to automate harvesting while maintaining quality
and efficiency.
Four Growers, a category leader in intelligent ag-tech platforms, developed
the GR-200 robotic harvesting platform, powered by FANUC’s
LR Mate robot. The system
combines AI-driven vision and motion planning to identify and harvest ripe
tomatoes with quick precision. FANUC’s robot was selected for its speed,
payload capacity, reach, compact footprint and ease of use — all critical
factors for greenhouse environments.
Westburg Greenhouse partnered with Four Growers to deploy the first
operational fleet of GR-200 LR Mate robots. Within a week of installation, the
robots were harvesting tomatoes, significantly reducing the need for manual
harvesting labor.
The robots now harvest grape and cherry tomatoes around the clock, resulting
in fewer people being needed for the harvesting process and freeing staff to
focus on other crop tasks. With custom AI models and datasets, the system
adapts to each grower’s ripeness standards and crop types. Westburg plans to
expand its fleet and automate additional activities.
This milestone marks a major step toward future-proofing greenhouse operations
— enabling growers to produce high-quality, sustainable food efficiently and
affordably.