Dogtooth Bronze Winner of the Future of Food Competition 2024

We were thrilled to be one of 16 finalists, selected from over 100 entries across the UK, to participate in the inaugural Future of Food competition.

The competition brought together some of the country’s most innovative food and farming businesses, with each finalist invited to pitch their ideas live to a panel of industry experts and decision-makers at the historic Royal Geographical Society in London.

Future of Food Creator, Barney Mauleverer said, “The mega trends of the future – rising sea
levels, shifting populations, threats to our economy, farming and climate, even space tourism are undeniable. But the food industry has a unique opportunity to lead the charge in solving these seismic shifts and crises. It’s incredibly inspiring to see so many young, up and coming innovators forging ahead.

Without the strength of big brands or budgets behind them, they’re making waves, pushing
boundaries and showing the incredible talent this industry has to offer. That’s exactly what
the Future of Food competition is here to celebrate: their passion, drive and game changing potential.

Dr Duncan Robertson, Founder & CEO of Dogtooth Technologies, leads a pioneering team that has spent eight years developing robots capable of harvesting delicate berry fruits as effectively as human pickers.

Well done to Duncan and the team on winning the Bronze Award!”

www.futureoffood.org.uk

Dr Duncan Robertson on stage at the Royal Geographical Society.

Dogtooth Featured in Interesting Engineering

Dogtooth is thrilled to be featured in Interesting Engineering‘s recent documentary alongside other innovators pioneering the use of new kinds of robots in agriculture. With a shortage of skilled harvest labour, the global horticultural industry faces unique challenges. Growers are adopting new technologies to ensure crops are harvested efficiently and Dogtooth’s robots are at the forefront, helping to create a more sustainable and resilient future for farming. Dogtooth is now selling its fifth generation robots to growers around the world. If you’re interested in robotic harvesting on your farm, we’d love to talk to you.

Computer Vision 3D Model Provides A Detailed View Of Plant Geometry

Earlier this year, Dogtooth’s Software CTO Anders Johansson Associate Professor in Engineering Mathematics at Bristol University very much enjoyed working with Bristol Engineering student, Ben Winstanley. Ben used a state-of-the-art computer vision approach to create detailed 3D models of complex plant geometry.

This ability is central to our robot’s ability to pick delicate berry fruits without damage to other parts of the plant. Rather than grasping the body of the fruit, our robots work by gripping and cutting their stalks – an approach that helps to minimize cross contamination and bruising (and that Dogtooth has patented worldwide). For the robot to position its cut/grip end effector with sufficient precision, it must form detailed and accurate 3D models in real time.

Kent’s Growers Given Lesson in Robotic Fruit Picking

Dogtooth recently welcomed some members from Produced in Kent to a demonstration of robotic strawberry picking at a commercial farm in Kent. Members from a wide range of backgrounds enjoyed a presentation from our CEO Duncan Robertson outlining Dogtooth’s journey before seeing our robot fleet picking in the field.

Several generations of robots were on display, picking the everbearer crop highly effectively, as they do throughout the season. The first teams of fifth generation robots to be owned by farmers/growers will be delivered next year, which will be momentous for the soft fruit industry. Get in touch to find out more…

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/the-robots-that-could-help-kent-s-fruit-picking-problems-312244

Dogtooth Teams Up With Fitzbillies

Dogtooth has teamed up with the 100-year-old Cambridge bakery, Fitzbillies, who have crafted a delicious strawberry and cream bun as their summer special, made with strawberries picked by our harvesting robots. Nothing gets past our engineers without being tested. We can confirm that these buns have been thoroughly tested, and they are absolutely delicious! If you are local to Cambridge, these limited-edition buns are available at all Fitzbillies branches.

Dogtooth’s Robots Boost Productivity with Night-Time Picking

You will want to turn the sound up on this video!

It is the sound of a team of our fourth generation robots picking overnight in an otherwise deserted glasshouse. These robots have been operated for 16 hours a day throughout 2024 – including at night, when cooler conditions can sometimes help to prolong the shelf life of picked fruit. Now our next generation “Gen5”  robots are capable of being used for up to 24 hours a day. Not only does this increase their productive output, but the flexibility of operating robots for one, two, or three eight-hour shifts helps our customers to cope with the peaks and troughs of production.

Welcome to Our New Team Members!

We are thrilled to welcome three outstanding new members to our team: Patrick Wiltshire, Alex Wheatley and Daniel Rutterford.

Patrick joins our Hardware team as Mechanical Design Engineer, bringing with him extensive experience in developing equipment for the construction and events industries. His passion for developing new and exciting products makes him a valuable asset as we continue to innovate and grow. Outside of work, Patrick enjoys driving (or fixing!) classic cars.

Alex, our new Standards and Compliance Engineer, comes to us with a strong background in quality assurance and regulatory compliance. His expertise in managing compliance processes for new high-tech products aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering high-quality products. Alex is a passionate fan of live music and is also an enthusiastic table-top and miniatures gamer, fond of Euro-games and deck building.

Joining us as Manufacturing Engineer, Daniel Rutterford brings a wealth of knowledge from over 11 years of experience working in manufacturing and testing laboratories. His insights into process optimisation and cycle time reduction will undoubtedly help drive our efforts for continuous improvement. When not at work, Daniel enjoys cooking, home brewing, and spending time outdoors exploring with his partner and son.

Welcome aboard!

Rick Stein’s Food Stories on BBC Two

A few of our robots were lucky enough to co-star in Rick Stein’s Food Stories on BBC Two this evening – alongside Sir James Dyson himself. Rick Stein and Sir James have both thought very deeply on the subject of sustainable food production – and by developing state-of-the-art fruit harvesting robots alongside inspiring and innovative customers such as Dyson Farming and Hugh Lowe Farms, Dogtooth is delighted to be doing its part to improve the sustainability and security of UK food production.

If you have access to BBC iPlayer (UK TV license payers only), you can watch the episode here.

Daily Mail Interview with James Dyson

Last week, James Dyson spoke to Sarah Rainey of the Daily Mail ahead of her visit to th Dyson Farming glasshouse in Lincolnshire, where – with the aid of 20 of Dogtooth’s strawberry harvesting robots – the team are working hard to produce British grown strawberries at Christmas.

Read the full article here.

Dogtooth In The News

Dogtooth is making the news! We recently welcomed BBC News to Hugh Lowe Farms to see our strawberry harvesting robots picking fruit in the polytunnels. Their visit was an opportunity to explain how AI and robotic automation are helping to make agriculture become more sustainable.

This clip featured in last week’s episode of “Talking Business” alongside some other remarkable innovations helping to drive sustainability. If you’re in the UK, you can watch the whole episode via BBC iPlayer.

From the Polytunnel to the Palace!

Our strawberry harvesting robot made its royal debut this week at Hampton Court Palace for the 2023 Global Investment Summit. We were delighted to have been selected by the Department of Business and Trade to represent the UK’s nascent agri-robotics sector – and to have the opportunity to discuss our business with Oliver Dowden, Deputy Prime Minister, and Andrew Griffith MP Andrew Griffith, Minister of State for Science, Research, & Innovation. We were also rather pleased that our robot was placed next to some beautiful cars from Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd and McLaren Group, established British businesses that we love!

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