Objective To address the technical challenges of automating the pretreatment of diverse samples in pesticide residue detection in food.Methods A visual feedback-based robotic control module was designed to control the robotic arm for grasping target objects and to guide the movement of the mobile chassis. Hardware components were designed for each pretreatment task node based on specific requirements, thereby constructing an automated workstation. A programmable logic controller (PLC) was adopted as the main controller to coordinate the operations of each workstation. In accordance with the needs of diverse sample pretreatment, a pretreatment process management module was developed to enable the configuration of pretreatment schemes and real-time process monitoring.Results A pretreatment system for pesticide residue detection in food based on collaborative robots was developed.Conclusion The system is capable of completing pretreatment tasks with a high success rate according to predefined schemes, and the recovery and precision of test results meet the requirements of GB 5009.295—2023.