The robots are coming — to pick Pacific Northwest apples | Oregon Field Guide

Science fiction is fast becoming a reality on the apple orchards of Central Washington, where farmers facing labor shortages are testing out robots that could be the fruit pickers of the future.

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[Jan]

As he said, at this point, clearly the human workers are faster and better.

[TheTechnoPilot]

It’s unfortunate that it’s always framed as people not wanting to do these jobs, or wanting easier jobs. This is incorrect, it’s about these jobs paying enough for the required amount of work.

[wutflex]

This is why small and the local is better than one state producing for the entire country. I’ll go a step further it’s better for the world❤

[CampingforCool]

The noise from those drone pickers would drive a person absolutely insane

[komorifarm]

We will all be replaced....eventually.

[rchlletters]

If work that is overly dangerous or strenuous can be done by machine without additional consequences that’s great…but what I see are machines that are noisy and heavy, that may impact bees and compact the soil. They may also deprive people of a job that could be enjoyable if it were well paid.

[peterphan]

As farmer myself I don't think robots in the field is the most effective way. You may spend more time maintaining and setting the machine. Machine break down will delay the process of the harvest. Mother nature won't wait for you to repair your machine, when it's ready you better be ready or you will loose everything you grow.

[PeggyAmaya]

We still DO have horses and carts and thankfully people skilled enough to work them. There is a place in the world for farming by people.and draft animals.

[littlesheep]

The software part is neat but anyone who knows how to pick apples it is a lift and twist motion not pull straight out because you will ruin the appe spurs. Seems like this is a infomercial.

[edsalinas]

I'm all for getting high tech / AI to do difficult and dangerous jobs. This kind of technology will save a lot of backs, and falls. I've known apple pickers who have fallen off of those ladders and trees, and don't have anything positive to say about that part of the job.

[LakelandRussell]

I don't like the the stem trimed like that. It makes the stem difficult to remove later.

[outdoorfreedom]

Growing up in Washington I was the family apple picker!

[YesItsReallyKeith]

so was that contraption running on fuel, running a motor and polluting the whole time ?

[OregonCrow]

Yea but how many times does that machine go down for? And how long does it stay down?

[timallison]

i see the issues being the cost of the picker putting small farms out of business and the ability of these huge computers to operate in the rain.

[sherrykumar]

Fascinating technology.
I find it unfortunate that the need for this technology is framed as young people want easy jobs however. Perhaps if the job paid better it would be much easier to find the labor required for such tedious work.

[alanhill]

Be more apples on ground than the worst picker would ever drop . Most varieties picking one apple out of bunch when ripe will result in others falling.

[TheBushdoctor]

The future is here! A future where everything including apples will become more expensive despite their tremendously lowered production costs, and a future where that doesn't matter because you won't have a job anymore to buy them anyway.

[Oldjohn]

So, when the harvesters' software glitches (and it will) those apples will still need to be picked on time. I guess the future will need lots of repairmen, I mean "Service technicians"

[MikeA]

Why do you have to clip the stem? Can’t the consumer do that?