The viticulture industry, among many others, is trying to improve their product quality whilst facing labour supply challenges and increasing labour costs. The Maaratech research group has been developing human assist technology and an autonomous, prototype grape vine pruning machine to alleviate these issues. The machine is an arched “straddle” platform, containing a camera array, PC, UR5 manipulator, and end-effector. The canes of the grapevine are wrapped around guide wires, making it very difficult for cuts to be made – whether by human or robot. This thesis presents the process of developing and testing a novel technology called the Barracuda, to enable cuts to be made where the wire interferes with a cut. The wire also puts high accuracy requirements on the vision system and manipulator movements if a secondary mechanism was used to separate the wire and cane. The Barracuda was developed as an end effector to alleviate these issues by allowing passive wire separation from the cane. It works by exploiting the diameter difference between the smaller wire, and larger canes. The wire falls into slots, evading the blade, while the cane is cut. Two Barracuda configurations were tested by making cuts on canes wrapped around the guide wire. Config 1 was a single row of teeth, with larger recesses, flat teeth and a blade-guiding chamfer. Config 2 used two rows of teeth either side of smaller recesses and included rounded teeth tips. The components are CNC machined or laser cut. Results showed for both configurations, the 0° position was most effective. The 0° position is where the wire was below the cane, relative to the handpiece. In this position, Config 1 was effective 40.7% of the time, and config 2, 94.5% of the time. Damage to the wire was caused 8.9% of the time for config 1, and config 2 just 2.6% of the time. Both blades received the same rate of blade damage, however the damage was visibly more significant on config 1. From these results, config 2 was the preferred design, but integrating a chamfer from config 1 should reduce blade damage further. It also benefits human assist goals. By allowing cuts on the wire, pruners are able to make cuts quickly and easily with Barracuda-modified secateurs or loppers, removing the need to separate the cane from the wire. The design works around the environment, increases the number of points available for decision making, and allows some inaccuracy in the rest of the robotic system by offering passive wire avoidance with the teeth. The performance of the Barracuda in cut situations involving a wire proved it valuable for integration with current manual pruning methods, and as a cornerstone for robotic pruning development, providing further opportunities for the greater system.