From Self-Driving Cars to Smart Farming
Adham Ghazali, CEO of DailyRobotics, began his career in robotics by building self-driving car technology. Inspired by a friend with a regenerative farm, he shifted his focus to agriculture, spending time talking directly to farmers around the world. Through these conversations, Ghazali recognized the critical labor challenges and the potential for robotics to make a real difference in farming operations.
Why Focus on Strawberries?
The decision to start with strawberries was driven by three factors: the crop’s highly selective harvesting process, its long season in California, and the fact that most U.S. strawberry production is concentrated in a small region. Strawberries also require rapid, careful handling to prevent overripening and bruising, making them ideal for robotic innovation.
Rethinking the Robotic Harvester
Instead of complex mechanisms like micro-scissors or vacuum systems, DailyRobotics designed a soft, two-fingered gripper inspired by human hand movements. This patented approach ensures strawberries are picked gently, leaving the crown intact and avoiding bruising. Early prototypes caused significant fruit damage, but iterative development and field testing have reduced damage rates to less than 10%, with most remaining issues being minor and unrelated to the picking mechanism itself.
Achieving Human-Level Speed and Precision
A major challenge for robotic harvesters is speed. While most competitors operate at just 10% of human picking speed, DailyRobotics’ Q2 robot features two arms, each matching the four-second-per-strawberry pace of experienced human pickers. The hardware can even exceed this speed, with further improvements expected as software is refined.
Looking Ahead
DailyRobotics is in the final stages of testing and aims to launch commercially in the 2026 California strawberry season. Their immediate goal is to deploy pilot units with local farmers, continuing to refine performance and minimize damage rates. By bridging robotics, material science, and firsthand feedback from growers, DailyRobotics is poised to transform the economics and efficiency of strawberry farming for years to come.
