The Instytut Ogrodnictwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (Institute of Horticulture - National Research Institute) is a leading scientific and research unit in Poland, conducting activities in the field of horticulture, vegetable growing, ornamental plants and beekeeping. The research programme of IO-PIB covers all issues related to horticultural production, starting from research on biological issues of fruit, vegetable and ornamental plant production through biotechnology, genetics and breeding of horticultural plants, agrotechnology, phytopathology, nursery and protection of gene resources of fruit, vegetable and ornamental plants, plant irrigation, cultivation of edible fungi, processing and storage of fruit and vegetables, food safety, agroengineering, economics and marketing. The Institute also carries out research in the field of bee breeding, apiary technology, bee product quality and plant pollination. The Institute of Horticulture (IO-PIB) actively participates in the implementation of national and international projects, contributing to the development of modern horticulture. One of the current projects is HARVBOT - an innovative programme to develop and market an autonomous robot for identifying and harvesting apples. This project combines advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and state-of-the-art technologies to enable the identification and efficient harvesting of apples of high consumption quality (for consumption immediately after picking as well as after storage). The project is co-financed by the National Centre for Research and Development under the Strategic Research and Development Programme ‘Advanced information, telecommunications and mechatronic technologies’ - INFOSTRATEG IV.