On 4 September 2024 the Marlborough District Council, hosted an event which was attended by 35 representatives from industry, research, tech, government and education. There were a lot of representatives from the wine industry. We sent a member of our UC Vision team Dr Oliver Batchelor who gave a presentation along with Jodie Kuntzch of Moananui.

The purpose of the event was to explore potential collaborations relating to robotics and automation.

Dr Oliver Batchelor gave a presentation on our workflow with scanning grapevines and showcased our technology in terms of crop monitoring through videos.

The government’s goal to double wine exports was highlighted however with increasing costs, especially labour, the profits were down. Break out groups were made to discuss this problem. The highest votes were for developing a new system framework which included “Design a new growing system where tasks and human input are reduced.”

It is clear from this event that automation using robots is the way forward in the vineyard.