Robots that empty crates and pack fruit in your packing house

One cell at the start of your line and another at the end. The middle stays as it is.

3D model of a packing line. On the left, a robot arm takes a layer of plastic crates from the pallet, turns it over onto a blue belt, and the empties slide down a chute. Fruit runs through the line the packing house already has. On the right, a second arm lifts a tray of fruit and lowers it into the box. Illustrative demonstration.
What do you pack?
AvocadoTomatoBell pepperMangoLimeCucumber

Illustrative demonstration. Your cell comes from your layout.

Agro Robotics is a Mexican manufacturer of robots that empty field crates and pack fruit for packing houses. It applies fruit packing automation to the two ends of the line: its fruit crate tipper takes the full layer of plastic crates off the pallet and empties it onto the belt; its robotic case packer places the fruit in cardboard or plastic boxes.

It builds in Cerro de San Pedro, San Luis Potosí, belongs to Target Robotics Group and sells only in Mexico. On the floor in Mexico you will also hear vaciador for the tipper and encajillador for the case packer. They are the same machines.

Heavy at the start.
Repetitive at the end.

Dumping by hand means lifting crates of 25 kg, right at the limit NOM-036, Mexico's manual handling standard, sets for a man aged 18 to 45, with 10,000 kg accumulated per workday. A line running 5 t/h ties up at least 4 people per shift on dumping alone. NOM-036-1-STPS-2018, from STPS, the labor ministry, in the DOF, Mexico's official gazette, November 23, 2018. Agro Robotics calculation: kg per hour × 8 ÷ 10,000.

That is also where fruit takes its hits: in four avocado packing houses, INIFAP, Mexico's national agricultural research institute, measured the hardest impacts on the dumping belt, and slowing it down did not reduce them. The damage shows only once the avocado ripens, by then at your customer's. INIFAP, measured in 2012, published in 2017. Fruit crate dumping guide.

Packing weighs less and wears people out just the same: thousands of pieces a day, in the pack pattern each customer wants. Starting in 2027 the legal workweek drops to 46 hours, and by 2030 it reaches 40, with no pay cuts. Reform to Mexico's Federal Labor Law, DOF, May 1, 2026. What it means for an avocado packing house.

3D model of the fruit crate tipper: the arm takes a layer of crates off the pallet, turns it over onto a blue belt, and the empties slide down a chute to another belt.
Illustrative demonstration. Your cell comes from your layout.

Infeed: the fruit crate tipper empties the pallet onto your belt

An arm takes the full layer of plastic crates, empties it onto the belt and moves the empty crates out. Nobody climbs on the pallet or hauls a crate.

Takes: The full layer
Crate: Plastic field crateSize and weight get confirmed with yours.
Rate: Measured with your crateAnd with what your line can take.

See the fruit crate tipper

The middle stays untouched

Your washer, grader and sorting tables stay. The cells go at the two ends, and you can start with one.

How the line comes together

3D model of the middle stretch: fruit enters the line the packing house already has and comes out unchanged.
Illustrative demonstration. Your cell comes from your layout.

Outfeed: the robotic case packer places fruit in the box

It takes each fruit with a tool suited to your crop and sets it in the box in the pack pattern your customer asks for. For another format, you change the program and the tool.

Rate: Measured with your fruitAnd with your size and pack pattern.
Box: Cardboard or plastic
How it gets quoted: With your fruit and pack patternYou tell us what you pack, in which box and how your customer wants it.

See the robotic case packer

3D model of the case packer: the arm lifts a tray of twenty fruits off the table and lowers it into the carton.
Illustrative demonstration. Your cell comes from your layout.

Blue soft-finger gripper picking a yellow bell pepper from a belt

Stainless steel case packing cell: the yellow arm picks cucumbers from a tray and places them in cardboard boxes — Case packing cell, render.

When does it pay back? It depends on your days and your shifts

A machine that runs 270 days on two shifts pays back much sooner than the same machine in a short season at one shift. So this page gives you no payback promise: you run the math with your own numbers.

Run my numbers

Days your line runs per year 270 Shifts 2

540 labor days per year for each position you move off crate dumping or case packing

Labor days per year per position, by days and shifts
Days per year	1 shift	2 shifts	3 shifts
90	90	180	270
150	150	300	450
170	170	340	510
270	270	540	810

The season sets the clock: decide before the fruit catches up with you

A cell goes in during the lightest months of your packing house, and the decision gets made months earlier. Your crop's harvest curve and your own scale tell you which months those are; we look at it with your season.

What happens if it fails mid-harvest?

It is the first thing a packing line manager asks, and with good reason. Three things worth asking before you sign:

How soon someone reaches your packing house, given your region and your harvest hours.
Which spare parts stay at your plant and which ship from San Luis Potosí.
How you keep packing while the failure gets fixed.

In-season support

What do you pack?

Grapes or berries? They get packed in the field, and today we have no machine for that. Apple? Tell us how it reaches you: it all depends on the bin machine. A palletizer with no fruit involved? That is Target Robotics (in Spanish), our sister company.

We build, install and service it from San Luis Potosí

Agro Robotics is the Target Robotics Group company dedicated to packing houses. Target has operated since 2001 and makes palletizers; the two share a plant on Camino a la Joyita, in Cerro de San Pedro.

Who we are

Worth reading before you request a quote

Ask us what applies to your line

What we get asked most

What does a robot do in fruit packing automation?

In fruit packing automation the robot handles the two ends of the line: it empties field crates onto the belt and places fruit in the outgoing box. Your washer, grader and sorting tables stay as they are.

How many crates per minute does the fruit crate tipper empty?

It depends on your crate and on how much your line takes. The tipper takes the full layer off the pallet, and the rate gets measured with your crate and your fruit.

How much does a robot for my packing house cost?

Agro does not publish prices yet: it depends on the crate, the space and what the cell includes. The math is out in the open, though: in the payback calculator you enter your days, shifts and cost per person. If you want a number for your line, request a quote with your crate and your volume.

Does it damage the fruit?

That depends on the drop height and the tooling, which is why it is worth seeing it with your fruit before you decide. The strongest public data in Mexico comes from INIFAP: in four avocado packing houses, the hardest impacts happened on the dumping belt. Read the fruit crate dumping guide.

Do I have to change my line or my grader?

No. The cells go before and after what you already have. You can start with one, usually crate dumping, and add the other later. See how it comes together in automated fruit packing line.

What happens to my crew?

The idea is to take away the heaviest work and move people to sorting and inspection, where a trained eye still counts. If your case involves a workforce adjustment, Mexico's Federal Labor Law has its own rules (article 439), and it is worth going over with a lawyer before you install.

Do you sell outside Mexico?

No. Agro Robotics builds, installs and supports its machines only in Mexico. If your company is foreign and your packing house is here, we also work with you in English.

Tell us what you pack and how the fruit reaches you

With that, your crate and your volume, we will tell you which cell makes sense first and what is left to measure.

Request a quote Or send us a video of your line