Mechanizing the fruit removal operation during fresh-market apple harvesting will result in considerable cost savings for fruit growers. This study introduces a mechanical fruit removal technique that uses a unique limb shaking mechanism called a Dual Motor Actuator (DMA). The DMA was developed as an infinitely variable end-effector that applies rhythmic motions to a fruiting limb to remove fruit. The novelty of the DMA design is the use of two eccentrics mounted to electric motors that are pinned together to form a triangle with an adjustable base. In this paper, the development of the mechanism and a field study using two varieties of fruit (‘Fuji’ and ‘Granny Smith’) is reported. The fruit removed was classified based on three removal conditions (stem-intact, stempull, and spurpull) commonly used in the fresh-market apple industry. Stem-intact is the preferred classification whereas a limited percentage of spur-pull will also be acceptable. Stem-intact fruit removal rates with the DMA were excellent for ‘Fuji’ (90 % avg.) and moderate for ‘Granny Smith’ (50 % avg.). The DMA end-effector provides an alternative mechanism to apply a controllable shaking pattern and rhythm. This precise limb acceleration method shows great potential for removing apples from a limb while maintaining fresh-market stem-intact quality fruit.