CLEMSON, SC - The process of plant grafting could become quicker, more efficient, with less need for labor if this new technology hits the market.

Richard Hassell, Clemson Cooperative Extension's South Carolina State Vegetable Specialist, along with a science team out of the Coastal Research and Education Center at Clemson University, have created a bionic, steel-handed machine to modernize and simplify plant grafting.

“When done by hand, it's very slow and labor-intensive," Hassell told Phys Org. "The robot does it much faster than a human can do it. This reduces labor costs while at the same time enhancing healthy and robust growth because the same clean cut is made every time."

Hassell’s methods are already known in grafting practices, as he is also responsible for a method that prevents or heals regrowth that has been adopted by growers throughout the U.S. and beyond, according to the report.

"Grafting was laughed at when I first came here," Patrick Wechter, Research Plant Pathologist for the U.S. Vegetable Laboratory, said, according to the report. "People said no one will ever do it in the U.S. because it's too expensive. But Richard has persisted and become of one of the leading experts in the world on grafting."

Now, with team members Brian Ward, Mark Schaffer, Manning Rushton, and Ginny DuBose, he hopes to tackle the intensity of the grafting process, which affects several fresh produce categories.

"The reason we graft crops such as watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, and peppers is because they have poor root systems that are very susceptible to soil-born disease. And so anything in the soil that stresses their roots collapses the plants," Hassell said. "But if we graft hardier, resistant rootstocks from plants such as gourds and squash onto the shoots of the desired crop, then the fruit-producing part of the plant is able to thrive."

So what does the robot do? Well, in just seconds, the the metal “hand” grasp, slices, and pushes together the rootstock of the fruit and the gourd.

"After the graft is completed, the plant is put into a high-humidity healing chamber that encourages the graft to heal and the rootstock to store carbohydrates while also sending out new roots," Hassell said of the plant’s journey after the robot is done, detailing that  it still needs a week to heal, a week to strengthen, and then is ready to plant. All to make a stronger product.

So what impact will this latest high-tech invention have on the produce industry? We can’t wait to find out.