Fieldwork Robotics picks up £1.5m

Fieldwork Robotics has picked up £1.5m funding from climate investor Elbow Beach Capital. 

The Cambridge-based creator of autonomous harvesting robots has announced funding from Elbow Beach Capital, alongside existing investors Frontier IP and a family office.

“This round will support our work with forward-looking farms looking to solve their labour shortages, reduce crop wastage and mitigate food inflation,” said Fieldwork Robotics CEO David Fulton.

Founded at the University of Plymouth, Fieldwork Robotics has developed the world's first autonomous raspberry harvesting robot, in collaboration with Bosch. The robot, named Alpha, analyses the crop, decides when to harvest, and places the fruit in punnets ready for delivery to supermarkets.  Raspberries picked by Alpha are already for sale in major UK supermarkets including Sainsbury's, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. 

Fieldwork's technology allows growers to increase their harvesting efficiency significantly, and reduce food wastage caused by human labour shortages.  Alpha offers growers the ability to extend operations to 24 hours a day, increasing harvesting time threefold. 

Jon Pollock, chief executive of Elbow Beach Capital, said: “Agriculture as it stands is not fit for purpose and we need innovative technologies to alleviate the unsustainable levels of waste and improve the economics for the farmer and end customers in the sector.”