Interacting fermions on a lattice can develop strong quantum correlations, which are the cause of the classical intractability of many exotic phases of matter(1-3). Current efforts are directed towards the control of artificial quantum systems that can be made to emulate the underlying Fermi-Hubbard models(4-6). Electrostatically confined conduction-band electrons define interacting quantum coherent spin and charge degrees of freedom that allow all-electrical initialization of low-entropy states and readily adhere to the Fermi-Hubbard Hamiltonian(7-17). Until now, however, the substantial electrostatic disorder of the solid state has meant that only a few attempts at emulating Fermi-Hubbard physics on solid-state platforms have been made(18,19). Here we show that for gate-defined quantum dots this disorder can be suppressed in a controlled manner. Using a semi-automated and scalable set of experimental tools, we homogeneously and independently set up the electron filling and nearest-neighbour tunnel coupling in a semiconductor quantum dot array so as to simulate a Fermi-Hubbard system. With this set-up, we realize a detailed characterization of the collective Coulomb blockade transition(20), which is the finite-size analogue of the interaction-driven Mott metal-to-insulator transition(1). As automation and device fabrication of semiconductor quantum dots continue to improve, the ideas presented here will enable the investigation of the physics of ever more complex many-body states using quantum dots.