Green-fingered robot could plug worker shortage

BRITISH robotics experts have invented a green-fingered robot that picks flowers in a job like “something out of Tess of the d’urbervilles”.

A team at Falmouth University, Cornwall, have developed “Daffy”, a contraption reminiscent of a fairground claw machine, that moves at 0.1 metres a second.

It was created to help pick daffodils, which experts say is a job straight out of a Thomas Hardy novel and should be replaced by machines.

The agricultural sector already uses robotic technology to pick soft fruit, asparagus, and peppers.

But with a drought of workers over this summer in particular that left fruit and flowers rotting in the fields, some farming bosses say they are desperate for extra tech.

The idea for Daffy was conceived in November when Penzance-based Varfell Farms issued an “urgent call” for expertise to help develop a prototype robot picker.

Students on the MSC Entrepreneurship course met with AI specialists, coders, web developers, robotics students and gamers to work on the robot.