YASKAWA’s cucumber leaf scraping robot to be fully launched

March 15, 2024

On February 28, YASKAWA Electric announced that it has entered the full-scale implementation phase of a demonstration project for the automation of cucumber leaf scraping, which is being conducted jointly with JA ZEN-NOH (National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations of Japan).

Cucumber leaf scraping is the process of removing old leaves that deprive cucumbers of nutrients during the growth stage. As a result of experimentation at the test farm “Yume Farm ZEN-NOH SAGA” in Saga Prefecture, the removal rate of unnecessary leaves by the robot has been stabilized at around 70%, and the robot will now enter the full-scale introduction phase. In the future, the company intends to strengthen cooperation with JA ZEN-NOH to expand the system to other crops such as tomatoes and eggplants.