Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

Always one of the driving forces in robotics has been the economy. As labor gets more expensive and the demand for cheap goods increases, machinery has replaced people. Early on the machines were simplistic. In the 1970s we began to see simple robots replace people in factories and assembly lines. Now perhaps we will see them replace people in farming. Farmers have welcomed newer smarter equipment with open arms for centuries. All that is needed is a price point that can justify the cost. Many have blamed the open border policy in the US for delaying and slowing down the farm robot development. If the border policy changes we could see a booming farm robot industry here soon.

With authorities promising tighter borders, some farmers who rely on immigrant labor are eyeing an emerging generation of fruit-picking robots and high-tech tractors to do everything from pluck premium wine grapes to clean and core lettuce.
Such machines, now in various stages of development, could become essential for harvesting delicate fruits and vegetables that are still picked by hand.

“If we want to maintain our current agriculture here in California, that’s where mechanization comes in,” said Jack King, national affairs manager for the California Farm Bureau.

Robots may become essential on US farms

See also:
AgBots: Agricultural robots take the field: Science fiction in the news
Service robots: Agriculture and harvesting robots