Malaysia has a well-established palm oil industry and is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of palm oil. The industry plays a significant role in the country’s economy, employing hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to the development of rural areas. However, like the global palm oil industry, Malaysia’s palm oil industry has faced challenges due to labour shortage, tree height and uneven plantation landscape and land scarcity. Inexperienced workers may find it challenging to determine when the palm fruits are ready for harvest, leading to a situation where unripe palm fruits are picked, and ripe ones become overripe. This is often observed in oil palm plantations that rely heavily on manual labour to assess the readiness of harvest, a challenge exacerbated by Malaysia’s shortage of skilled oil palm plantation laborers. One effective approach to reducing reliance on workers is to enhance automation in detecting the readiness of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) for harvesting (Murphy et al. 2021). This can indirectly boost productivity per harvest by optimising the harvesting and evacuation routes.