Mechanical pruner in action

Dried grape grower Stephen Bennett has continued working with La Trobe University researchers on the industry's self-guided mechanical winter pruner.

The robotic pruning system, which aims to significantly reduce labour and costs associated with the task of pruning, was developed as part of a project between Dried Fruits Australia (DFA), La Trobe University and the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre.

Since the project finished last year, Stephen has been trialling and evaluating the system at his Merbein property with support from the La Trobe team.

Stephen said the pruner has so far seemed to be gentle on the cordon and trellis system. It runs at about 1km/hour and aims to cut canes about 3mm from the cordon.

The pruner uses a LiDAR system to locate the cordon and software to guide the position of the cutting head.

DFA has put together a short clip to show the pruner in action on Stephen’s block: