England's only tea plantation has showcased the world's first ROBOTIC tea harvester.<br /><br />The 'Teabot' at Tregothnan in Cornwall, claims to be the first ever harvesting robot of its kind.<br /><br />Powered by solar panels, the driverless vehicle was designed by an on-site engineer, Tom Gowan, 54, on behalf of Tregothnan - who have already put the machine into practice.<br /><br />Photos of the giant, grey machine show it at work - driving over the top of the lines of English tea bushes.<br /><br />Managing director, Jonathon Jones OBE, 51, said: "It’s been a long time brewing, the world's first robotic tea harvester has picking this week, powered by solar panels.<br /><br />"Teabot is a breakthrough for the whole tea industry around the world. It is the first driverless tea picker with onboard solar power."<br /><br />Mr Jones said the robot was designed and built in Cornwall, and is even available for purchase with 12 weeks delivery - for just £175,000.<br /><br />It has a range of five miles, which includes approximately 10,000 tea bushes.<br /><br />He added: "The engineer behind the revolutionary robot, Tom, has been working on the project for many years.<br /><br />"It's been two years since the drawing board, but long before that we were coming up with ideas on how to make it work, creating intellectual property - it's been a long road.<br /><br />"The result has been amazing though. It is the first time a machine is able to pick tea at a higher quality than a human - and that's really something.<br /><br />"Around the world, tea is a very manual industry. Quality is hard to get on machine than by hand, but the Teabot has incredibly precise snipping blades and a completely joined up harvesting process that can pick around two tonnes of tea per charge.<br /><br />"It's been a great project, and has drummed up interest from across the tea world; even from as far afield as India, Japan and Africa.<br /><br />"There's a lot of interest from the industry, and I think it goes to show that Britain remains the real home of tea - and that we're a leading part of that.<br /><br />"The hope is that we'll eventually create an international tea centre here, and I'm sure the Teabot will play a big part in that."<br /><br />Tregothnan has been owned by the same Boscawen family since 1334, and is believed to be the first place to grow ornamental Camellias outdoors in Britain over 200 years ago.<br /><br />Now it's the only place growing tea in England, and has been home to the largest tea gardens in Europe for since 1999.<br /><br />The house now boasts 26 miles of tea bushes, which thrive in a unique microclimate seven miles in-land of Cornwall's 'Mediterranean'-style coasts, with regular fog helping nurture the plants due to a nearby deep-sea creek.
