CTalk: Drones Are Needed to Keep Up With Fruit Picking, Says Tevel Chairman

Eyal Deshe, chairman of Tevel Aerobotics Technologies Ltd., spoke with CTech reporter Adi Pick about the need to incorporate drones in the agriculture industry. The interview was held at Calcalist's Industry and Economy conference, organized in Tel Aviv in collaboration with Israeli oil refining company Bazan Group.

Founded in 2016, Tevel develops autonomous drones equipped with a one-meter long mechanical claw, which can pick fruit or be used for thinning and pruning tasks in orchards. The company’s drones are equipped with artificial intelligence capabilities that enable them to identify fruit types, blemishes, and the fruit’s level of ripeness. While the company’s current version is only able to pick apples and oranges, Tevel is working to expand its drones’ capabilities to include additional fruits such as avocados and mangoes. In addition to its fleet of drones, Tevel intends to offer its fleet management software, developed in-house, which collects and tracks data such as the fruit yield of each tree in the orchard as well as fruit quality.

Desheh, 67, also currently serves as the chairman of Isracard Ltd., the Tel Aviv-listed credit card spinoff of Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel's two largest banks. Earlier in his career, Desheh was the chief financial officer of Nasdaq-listed network and cloud security provider Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., before taking on the same position at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.