Seriously...our robot overlords are comming!

jverne

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The process involves sending a mechanized scanning unit into orchards and orange groves. Equipped with digital-imaging technology, it creates a three-dimensional map displaying the location, ripeness and quality of fruit. A robotic picker then follows the maps, using its long mechanical arms to carefully pluck the ripe produce.

A prototype was tested last month, but it is still a few years from being ready for widespread commercial use, said Ted Batkin, a grower and president of the citrus board.


Elsewhere, a team led by wine specialists at California State University, Fresno, is working on an automated picker to further mechanize the wine-grape business.

Growers of low- and mid-grade wine grapes already use mechanical harvesters, but picking and sorting premium grapes still requires a human touch.

The new technology includes a device called a near-infrared spectrometer, which measures the sugar levels and chemical content of grape samples before they are picked, Wample said. The data is then plotted to a global positioning system map, which a mechanical harvester uses to navigate the vineyards and pluck specific bunches at ideal ripeness.



listen to this

"Because of the immigration issue, migrant workers are becoming a difficult entity to find," Maconachy said. "If growers have a crop that needs to be harvested and there aren't the people to do it, they'll need to find a mechanized way to do it."


http://www.physorg.com/news108278117.html


in a way this is a good thing since it will make dirty backbreaking jobs obsolete or at least confined to small scale.

the future is soon here fellas!
 
I see this being too expensive to buy/upkeep for it to be practical..
 
what if the wind moves some of the fruit after the picture
 
what if the wind moves some of the fruit after the picture

hmm...probably a sensor that scans the spot where the fruit should be??

they are not that much expensive even for prototypes.
 
hmm...probably a sensor that scans the spot where the fruit should be??

they are not that much expensive even for prototypes.

you dont know what your talking about. I majored in robot cherry pickers in college, so dont even try that shit


:angel:
 
I don't know, I think Mexicans would be cheaper labor than these machines...
 
they will put mind control serums on the fruits
 
you dont know what your talking about. I majored in robot cherry pickers in college, so dont even try that shit


:angel:

umm oki...they probably figured something out.
 
Oh yeah, let's leave the machines in charge of the alcohol, that's a good idea...
 
That'd take away so much jobs - my first job was a fruit picker D:
 
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