The employment of robots in wine production is a topic progressively more talked about in the viticultural industry. While robots have been used for many industrial activities for decades, their usage for wine production is relatively new. However, many wine producers are starting to see the advantages of using automated tech to increase the quality of the wine and efficiency rate, as well as cut the costs down. Robots can be used through many of the steps of wine production, including grape harvesting, pressing, fermentation, bottling and labelling. First, grape harvesting is a delicate and challenging task, that is usually linked with manual labor. Though, using robots for carrying out this task can increase the efficiency and precision of harvesting, improve the grape quality and reduce expenditures. Robots can be programmed to exclusively pick ripened and healthy grapes, leaving the unripe and damaged ones on the vine.
Once they are picked, the grapes are then pressed to extract the must, that will subsequently be fermented in order to produce the wine. The pressing is a delicate task that requires a lot of precision in order to avoid an excessive pressure of the grapes, that could lead to more tannic and bitter wines. Robots can be used to exert a precise and controlled amount of pressure on the grapes, increasing the quality of the wine.
During the fermentation process, robots can be used to measure and regulate must’s temperature and pH, which are key factors for determining the quality of the wine. Moreover, robots can be used to mix the must precisely and measuredly, boosting the wine’s quality.
After fermenting, the wine needs to be bottled, labelled and sealed. These are repetitive and time-consuming tasks that can be automated using robots. Those can be programmed to accurately fill out the wine bottles, apply the labels and uniformly seal the bottles.
Robots are also used ever more to improve the managing of stocked and distributed goods. Those machines can automate many tasks, from bottle displacement to wine cataloguing, increasing the efficiency and precision of the processes.
An example of a robot used for wine stocking is the automated shelfing system. This device uses a robotic arm to extract the bottles from the shelves and put them on a conveyor belt. That allows the bottles to be kept in an orderly fashion, simplifying the search of the desired wine. In addition to that, these devices can also be programmed to rotate the wine bottles in order to avoid the wine to age for too long on a side, hence preserving its characteristics.
Robots can also be employed in the distribution segment. For instance, wine vending machines can serve wines precisely and swiftly. These devices use a robotic arm to serve the selected wines in glasses or bottles, offering a personalized wine tasting experience for the customers.
Other robots were developed to analyze the wines and aid in their classification. For example, a robot called “Wine Rover” is able to analyze the wines through the senses of smell and taste, providing a quality rating. That can aid wine producers with determining which wines are ready to be sold and which need to be stored for a further ageing.
Drones are also becoming increasingly popular for vineyard mapping and crop managing. These can be used to 3D map vineyards, as well as monitor the vine growth and detect any possible issue, like viruses or parasites. That allows wine producers to make conscious decisions on how to manage their vineyards and preserve the quality of the wine.
Generally, robots are becoming popular to a greater extent in the wine industry, offering a boost in efficiency, precision and quality in the handling of the productive, stocking and distribution operations. Technology is constantly evolving and that change is reflected upon every single aspect of life, be it personal or revolving around industries, science, art, medicine and communication. It is important to stay up to date with the technological progress in order to be able to yield the benefits of it and at the same time foresee and contain any possible risk.
