Building on the success of TrueFruit Grade for citrus, now used by some of the world’s largest fruit companies, Aerobotics has expanded its AI-powered fruit grading technology to support apples and grapes. The expansion provides growers with earlier, more objective insight into fruit size color and quality, enabling better decision-making throughout the season.
Developed by AgTech company Aerobotics, TrueFruit Grade uses only a smartphone to measure fruit size, color and blemishes. Users take pictures while fruit is still on the tree or vine, or post-harvest when fruit is in bins, providing continuous visibility into fruit development throughout the season.
According to James Paterson, CEO of Aerobotics, the expansion reflects a broader shift toward earlier grading and forecasting in fruit production.
“What we’ve seen in citrus is that when growers have clear, objective quality data earlier, they can make better calls on harvest timing, packing, and sales,” said Paterson. “Apples and grapes are similar - small changes in timing or quality can have a big knock-on effect commercially.”
TrueFruit Grade for apples enables growers to analyze fruit size, color, and blemishes both pre- and post-harvest. By identifying defects early, tracking growth and color progression, and standardizing grading across teams, apple growers can gain greater confidence in harvest timing and can deliver more consistent quality to market. Centralized dashboards turn field-level data into actionable insights that support forecasting, planning, and commercial alignment.
For grape growers, TrueFruit Grade brings the same intelligence directly into the vineyard. Teams can measure bunch size and quality on the vine early in the season, improving forecast accuracy for sales and marketing teams. Ongoing monitoring of color and blemishes supports better quality outcomes, while objective, block-level data helps growers prioritize harvest timing to maximize yield, packouts, and profitability.
“When growers can see size and quality developing in real time, they can adjust nutrition, manage crop load, and align teams much earlier in the season,” Paterson added. “That shared visibility across production, sales, and marketing is critical at scale. Expanding the technology to apples and grapes was a natural step, based on what our customers were asking for.”
TrueFruit Grade is now available for citrus, apples, and grapes, further extending Aerobotics’ end-to-end yield measurement solution for the global fruit industry.
Aerobotics will be showcasing TrueFruit Grade at the upcoming Fruit Logistica this February. Visitors can meet the team at Hall 3.1 | Stand C-31 to see how early fruit intelligence is reshaping decision-making from orchard and vineyard through to market.
For more information:
Vic van den Berg
Aerobotics
https://www.aerobotics.com/