Assistant Professor Mohammad Sadek in the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering Department was awarded a $20,000 grant from the California Leafy Greens Research Program to research an initial prototype of a low-cost automated lettuce harvester. The goal is to develop a low-cost autonomous solution for lettuce harvesting and reduce labor dependency.

The state of California produces about three-quarters of the nation’s lettuce supply. The current lettuce harvesting process is highly labor-intensive and growers face significant challenges finding enough laborers during peak season. Growers are looking for a mechanized solution to reduce the current labor crisis and improve productivity. To date, there have been few mechanized equipment options available for growers to use in lettuce harvesting. However, those technologies are not well adopted by the farmers in California because of high capital investment, technical skill requirement for operating and maintenance.

Sadek’s team has developed an initial prototype of a low-cost automated lettuce harvester. This prototype includes a modular design with a ground-based sensor for precision cutting height adjustment during harvesting. The modular cutting mechanisms can be used fully autonomously or mounted on another self-propelled platform or expanded to multiple units for larger operation. The goal of this project is to optimize the control system of the intelligent cutting mechanism for precision cut during harvest and evaluate the lettuce cutting performance in various commercial fields.