# GR-100 Tomato Harvester by Four Growers

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/agriculture/gr-100
Frontier: [Agriculture](https://technooptimist.io/agriculture.md) · Field: Harvesting robots · Company: [Four Growers](https://technooptimist.io/companies/four-growers.md)
Stage: Deploy (4 of 5: Research → Proto → Pilot → Deploy → Scaling)
Updated: last update 2025-11-13, facts checked 2026-10-11
Goal: Harvest greenhouse tomatoes by robot. Picking is repetitive work in hot, humid glasshouses and growers struggle to hire for it; greenhouses supply about half of the fresh tomatoes Americans eat.
Status: Commercial fleet harvesting at Dutch grower Westburg since late 2025; systems also run in Canada.
Next milestone: Cucumber-harvesting robot, target 2026

## Milestones

| Status | Milestone | Date | Slip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Done | Nature Fresh Farms partnership (Canada) | 2022 |   |
| Done | $9M Series A to scale GR-100 production | Dec 2024 |   |
| Done | First robot fleet operating in a Dutch greenhouse (Westburg) | Nov 2025 |   |
| Planned | Cucumber-harvesting robot | 2026 |   |

## Upcoming events

- **2026**: Cucumber-harvesting robot

## Most important updates

- **13 Nov 2025**: First fleet of Four Growers tomato-harvesting robots goes to work at Dutch grower Westburg. Several Four Growers robots are now harvesting snack, plum and cherry tomatoes at Westburg's greenhouse in the Netherlands. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/first-fleet-of-four-growers-tomato-harvesting-robots-goes-to-work-at-5c17d1a2.md) · [original source](https://www.hortidaily.com/article/9784868/first-fleet-of-tomato-harvesting-robots-operating-in-dutch-greenhouse/))
- **5 Dec 2024**: Four Growers raises a $9M Series A led by Basset Capital to scale its GR-100 tomato-harvesting robot. Pittsburgh-based Four Growers closed a $9 million Series A led by Basset Capital, with Y Combinator and Ospraie Ag Science, bringing its total to $15 million. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/four-growers-raises-a-9m-series-a-led-by-basset-capital-to-scale-its-gr-9aef291f.md) · [original source](https://globalaginvesting.com/four-growers-secures-9m-in-series-a-round-for-ai-powered-crop-harvesting-robots/))
- **2022**: Nature Fresh Farms partners with Four Growers to harvest greenhouse tomatoes by robot. Nature Fresh Farms, one of North America's largest greenhouse growers, in Leamington, Ontario, began working with Four Growers on robotic tomato harvesting. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/nature-fresh-farms-partners-with-four-growers-to-harvest-greenhouse-d9b34b48.md) · [original source](https://www.fanucamerica.com/case-studies/nature-fresh-farms-revolutionizes-tomato-harvesting-with-robots-ai))

## Current obstacles

- **Speed against human pickers**: Early prototypes needed 25 seconds per tomato against a person's one second; commercial use depends on closing that gap.
- **New crops need new hands**: Cucumbers and peppers hang differently; Four Growers is building a non-suction gripper for its cucumber robot.

## Physics limits

- **Fruit hidden in foliage**: Cameras need a clear line of sight. Tomatoes behind leaves or other trusses are missed or need extra moves, which caps the share of fruit a robot can harvest in one pass.
- **Works only in tidy, structured crops**: Greenhouse vines are trained into straight, uniform rows. Bushy outdoor crops lack that structure, so the same approach does not carry over easily to open fields.

## How it works

### See: Stereo cameras build a 3D view

Four stereo cameras see the vine in depth; the AI rates each tomato's ripeness and health.

### Plan: A path around stems and leaves

Software picks the order of fruit and plans each arm move so the gripper reaches the tomato without hitting the plant.

### Pick: Suction instead of fingers

A vacuum gripper takes hold of the fruit and pulls it free, avoiding the bruises that squeezing causes.

### Collect: Patented cart and crop maps

A secondary cart system handles the picked fruit; scans of every plant feed yield maps and harvest forecasts.

## Spec sheet

| Spec | GR-100 Tomato Harvester | Provenance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cameras | 4 stereo cameras | reported |
| Arm | FANUC LR Mate 200iD/7L | reported |
| Arm reach | 911 mm | reported |
| Labour saving | Up to 50% (company figure) | reported |
| Crops | Snack, plum and cherry tomatoes | reported |

Provenance: reported = stated by the company; estimated = our estimate; sample = a sample figure.

## About Four Growers

Pittsburgh startup whose robots pick ripe tomatoes in commercial greenhouses, using stereo cameras, AI and a suction gripper on an industrial arm. Its robots work in the Netherlands and Canada.

- Raised a $9M Series A in Dec 2024 led by Basset Capital ($15M total).
- Robots harvest at Westburg (Netherlands) and Nature Fresh Farms (Canada).
- Claims up to 50% labour savings; a cucumber robot without suction is next.

- Founded: 2018
- Headquarters: US
- Status: private
- Raised: $9M
- Last round: Series A $9M, Dec 2024, led by Basset Capital
- Website: https://fourgrowers.com
- People: Brandon Contino (Co-founder & CEO); Dan Chi (Co-founder & CTO)
- Partners, customers, investors: Nature Fresh Farms (customer); Westburg (customer); Syngenta (partner); FANUC (supplier); Basset Capital (investor); Y Combinator (investor)

Company page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/four-growers.md

## Related programs

Everything in Agriculture: https://technooptimist.io/agriculture.md

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