Toon Tielen

Papers

Total Citations

435

H-Index

About

Toon Tielen is a researcher specializing in agricultural robotics and automation, with a particular focus on developing autonomous harvesting systems for greenhouse horticulture. His work sits at the intersection of robotics engineering, computer vision, and precision agriculture, addressing one of the industry's most pressing challenges: reducing dependence on manual labor in crop production. Tielen's most influential contribution is his involvement in the SWEEPER project, a landmark study detailing the development and validation of a sweet pepper harvesting robot (2020, 432 citations). This work introduced a sophisticated robotic system combining a six-degree-of-freedom industrial arm, a custom-designed end effector, and RGB-D camera technology — representing a significant leap forward in autonomous fruit harvesting under real greenhouse conditions. The paper's remarkable citation count reflects its foundational status in the agricultural robotics field. Building on this expertise, Tielen has more recently turned his attention to gerbera flower harvesting, presenting a robotic prototype capable of performing precise actions in previously unseen greenhouse locations (2024). This research pushes the boundaries of generalization in agricultural robots, a critical challenge for real-world deployment. Together, his contributions demonstrate a consistent commitment to translating advanced robotics into practical, commercially viable horticultural solutions.