This study was conducted to develop a robotic transplanter for bedding plants. The robotic transplanter consisted of machine vision system, manipulator attached with the specially designed gripper, and plug tray transfer system. Results of this study were as follows. 1. A machine vision system for a robotic transplanter was developed. The success rates of detecting empty cells and bad seedlings in 72-cell and 128-cell plug-trays for cucumber seedlings were 98.8％ and 94.9％ respectively. The success rates of identifying leaf orientation for 72- cell and 128-cell plug-trays were 93.5% and 91.0%, respectively. 2. A cartesian coordinate manipulator for a robotic transplanter with 3 degrees of freedom was constructed. The accuracy of position control was $pm$ 1mm. 3. The robotic transplanter was tested with a shovel-type finger. Without considering leaf orientation, the success rates of transplanting healthy cucumber seedlings for 72-cell and 128-cell plug-trays were 95.5% and 94.5%, respectively. Considering leaf orientation, the success rates of transplanting healthy cucumber seedling in 72-cell and 128-cell plug-trays were 96.0% and 95.0%, respectively.