Author Topic: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers  (Read 6650 times)

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Amianthus

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Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« on: June 23, 2007, 02:57:31 PM »
Eliza Strickland
06.21.07 | 2:00 AM
 
 
Vision Robotics is developing a machine to trim grapevines in the fall.

As if the debate over immigration and guest worker programs wasn't complicated enough, now a couple of robots are rolling into the middle of it.

Vision Robotics, a San Diego company, is working on a pair of robots that would trundle through orchards plucking oranges, apples or other fruit from the trees. In a few years, troops of these machines could perform the tedious and labor-intensive task of fruit picking that currently employs thousands of migrant workers each season.

The robotic work has been funded entirely by agricultural associations, and pushed forward by the uncertainty surrounding the migrant labor force. Farmers are "very, very nervous about the availability and cost of labor in the near future," says Vision Robotics CEO Derek Morikawa.
 
It's a surprising new market for Vision Robotics, which had been focused on developing consumer devices, including a robotic vacuum cleaner to compete with iRobot's Roomba.

When a member of the California Citrus Research Board approached the company in 2004, Morikawa was doubtful that an effective robotic picker was even feasible. A citrus grower brought the skeptical engineers to an orange farm in California's fertile Central Valley, where they walked down the neat rows of trees and stared at the oranges hanging in the branches.

Previous attempts at making a mechanical harvester were thwarted by inefficiency, explains Morikawa. In the past, experimental machines approached a tree as a human would, picking one piece of fruit and then looking for the next. In this slow process, the machine circled the tree repeatedly until it was sure it had picked all the fruit.

Morikawa says his engineers had their breakthrough idea right there in the orange grove. They realized that the task could be divided between two robots: One would locate all the oranges, and the second would pick them. "Once you know where all the fruit is, then it becomes an easy job to calculate the most efficient way to pick it all," says Morikawa.
 
But it wasn't just technological challenges that held back previous attempts at building a mechanical harvester –- politics got involved, too. Cesar Chavez, the legendary leader of the United Farm Workers, began a campaign against mechanization back in 1978.

Chavez was outraged that the federal government was funding research and development on agricultural machines, but not spending any money to aid the farm workers who would be displaced. In the '80s, that simmering anger merged with a growing realization that the technology was nowhere near ready, and government funding dried up.

This time around, growers' associations are funding the research. By the end of this year, the orange growers will have invested almost $1 million in the project, says Ted Baskin, president of the California Citrus Research Board. He estimates that it will take about $5 million more to get to the finished product.

The farmers are willing to pay up because they've been rattled by a labor shortage over the past few years -- California growers tell horror stories of watching their fruit rot on the trees as they waited for the picking crews to arrive. Last fall, growers rallied in front of the U.S. Capitol, frustrated that Congress still hadn't created a program to ease the passage of foreign guest workers across the Mexico border.

With the supply-and-demand equation uncertain, growers see the robots as a better option. "You can predict what it's going to cost to buy a machine and maintain it," says Baskin. "You can't predict the bargaining that we go through with contract labor," he says.

The two robots would work as a team: one an eagle-eyed scout, the other a metallic octopus with a gentle touch. The first robot will scan the tree and build a 3-D map of the location and size of each orange, calculating the best order in which to pick them. It sends that information to the second robot, a harvester that will pick the tree clean, following a planned sequence that keeps its eight long arms from bumping into each other.

The Vision Robotics engineers are currently building the scout. They expect to have a prototype ready next year, with the harvester to follow two or three years later. Baskin says he doesn't expect the mechanical systems to pose any serious problems. The hard work is writing the software. After the scout robot makes a 3-D map of the tree, it has to evaluate each piece of fruit. What size is the orange? What color is it? Does it have black spots on it? "It's a question of gathering the information, and then judging whether it meets the parameters that are equal to a good orange," Baskin says.

Vision Robotics has been working on that problem for almost four years now, which might give some reassurance to human pickers. The United Farm Workers' leaders say they aren't worried about the robots, because they don't believe the machines will ever be able to do the job as well as people. Spokesman Marc Grossman predicts that mechanical hands will damage the fruit and make it unappealing for supermarket shoppers. "There are already machines that will pick wine grapes, but the high end wine growers don’t use them, because they want the quality," Grossman says.

Farmers don't seem to share that concern. The Washington Tree Fruit Commission started investing in the project last year, and Vision Robotics is talking to other agricultural groups with crops ranging from cherries to asparagus.

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sirs

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2007, 03:02:31 PM »
Uh ohh, this isn't going to sit well with the illegal immigrant lobby       :o
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

MissusDe

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2007, 05:42:03 PM »
Yes, but Brass will be very happy.

Religious Dick

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #3 on: June 24, 2007, 12:11:16 AM »
Uh ohh, this isn't going to sit well with the illegal immigrant lobby       :o

Yeah, well, this only addresses half the problem. Now we need a roving ass-kicking machine that will patrol the border.

I expect that would make the illegal immigrant lobby even more unhappy.  ;D
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sirs

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2007, 03:38:20 AM »
One could only wish
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Brassmask

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2007, 10:09:59 AM »
Gosh, I was under the impression that robots would NEVER be sensitive enough to pick fruit.

What's next?  Strawberry-picking robots????

John Deere already has a GPS guided tractor system available to buy TODAY.

http://stellarsupport.deere.com/en_US/

Universe Prince

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #6 on: June 24, 2007, 03:21:18 PM »

Uh ohh, this isn't going to sit well with the illegal immigrant lobby       :o


What makes you think so?
Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.
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sirs

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2007, 03:49:28 PM »
Uh ohh, this isn't going to sit well with the illegal immigrant lobby       :o


What makes you think so?

Because in large part, that's where a large # are usually exploi.....I mean employed.  I kinda though you'd know that Prince.  Then again, you probably do, and have posed such a question to reference some other point.  My supposed dislike towards immigrants in general perhaps? 
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Universe Prince

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #8 on: June 24, 2007, 10:36:40 PM »

Because in large part, that's where a large # are usually exploi.....I mean employed.


That you seem to be equating employment with exploitation is interesting.


I kinda though you'd know that Prince.


I suspected that would be your reasoning, though I try not to assume. So I asked.


Then again, you probably do, and have posed such a question to reference some other point.  My supposed dislike towards immigrants in general perhaps?


No, I was merely wondering why you made the remark.

As a capitalist and libertarian who opposes strict immigration control on basic humanitarian grounds (I have no idea if that puts me in the "illegal immigrant lobby" by your standards), I am not in the least put off by the idea of robots picking fruit. Quite the contrary. I'm all for it. Just don't expect me to jump on the sure to come "American robots picking American fruit for Americans" bandwagon.
Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.
--Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen ("The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" [1988])--

sirs

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #9 on: June 25, 2007, 04:07:59 AM »
That you seem to be equating employment with exploitation is interesting.

That you seem to giving a pass to those who exploit illegal immigrants is also very interesting.  I mean, if you're going to make an outlandish conclusion on my part, best I do the same I suppose, doncha think?


I suspected that would be your reasoning, though I try not to assume. So I asked.  I was merely wondering why you made the remark.

Hopefully then, I've quelled your query



As a capitalist and libertarian who opposes strict immigration control on basic humanitarian grounds (I have no idea if that puts me in the "illegal immigrant lobby" by your standards), I am not in the least put off by the idea of robots picking fruit. Quite the contrary. I'm all for it. Just don't expect me to jump on the sure to come "American robots picking American fruit for Americans" bandwagon.


As a Capitalist and Conservative who supports legal immigration on basic national security and patriotic grounds
A) I never would have put you in the "illegal immigrant lobby".  I actually put illegal immigrants in the illegal immigrant lobby
B) I'm glad you have no problem with fruit picking robots, though if you had, I don't think I would have had a problem with that either
C) Not sure what your "American robots" rant is all about, but hey, whatever floats your boat
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

kimba1

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #10 on: June 25, 2007, 04:10:26 PM »
hey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

isn`t this the beggining of RBE
robot based economy

Brassmask

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2007, 01:00:58 AM »
UP, don't be so hard on sirs.  He likes cheap fruit so he knows that farmers and the like must have really cheap labor and people so desperate for money to buy food and support their families that they'll agree to be really cheap labor so their kids can have food, clothing, housing, schooling, a doctor visit once in a while and so forth but on the other hand, as with all real conservatives, he's conflicted because he loves America and wants Americans to come in first in all things even if one of those things is the "Being Cheap Labor" race so naturally he doesn't like it when "illegal immigrants" come in and "steal" that race by being cheaper than an American can possibly be and afford the things an "illegal immigrant" can back home.  (Ironic isn't it that the "illegal immigrants" are simply operating within the capitalist system just like anyone else would?)

So, he's kind of screwed all the way around.  He can't have cheap fruit AND keep out illegal immigrants AND have Americans work for less than they could possibly live on in order for him to have his apples that don't cost $4 a piece.

Ergo, when someone starts calling him on all of his conflicting views, he gets a little defensive.

What's crazy about the new bill is that it is saying to "illegal immigrants" that they should go ahead and try to become citizens but they will have to be punished for breaking our laws first.  What's the upside for them?  Citizenship?  Why should they care when they have all the rights already and NO punishment?

The wife and I sometimes tussle over this because I'm not for allowing them to just get "amnesty" after other real Americans have busted their asses for years on the real path to citizenship and become more intelligent Americans than most native born Americans!  Amnesty rewards the criminals.  On the other hand, I'm not against immigration in general so I'm not sure what the answer really is.

Therein lies the whole of the matter.  Saying, "I don't know what the answer is yet" is better than screwing the people who have played by the rules.

Clearly, we could turn to an RBE and alleviate a lot of the problem but not everyone is as elevated in their thinking as I am.

Universe Prince

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2007, 02:59:20 AM »

The wife and I sometimes tussle over this because I'm not for allowing them to just get "amnesty" after other real Americans have busted their asses for years on the real path to citizenship and become more intelligent Americans than most native born Americans!  Amnesty rewards the criminals.  On the other hand, I'm not against immigration in general so I'm not sure what the answer really is.


The problem I have with the "amnesty rewards criminals" bit is that in this case the law is unjust and the people who broke it shouldn't be criminals, imo. Consider it unintentional civil disobedience.


Therein lies the whole of the matter.  Saying, "I don't know what the answer is yet" is better than screwing the people who have played by the rules.


Perhaps, but it doesn't address the problem that is harming the people who haven't played by the, imo, unjust rules.


Clearly, we could turn to an RBE and alleviate a lot of the problem but not everyone is as elevated in their thinking as I am.


Pooh yi.
Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.
--Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen ("The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" [1988])--

sirs

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2007, 03:04:06 AM »
UP, don't be so hard on sirs.  He likes cheap fruit so.......

Well, there's that 'ol line yet again......start with a false premise, no need to go any further




"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Xavier_Onassis

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Re: Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2007, 11:06:32 AM »
The fact is that there is no difference between replacing orange picking humans with orange picking machines and replacing humans swinging scythes with  harvester combines, other than the difference in technical difficulty.

If it is more economical to use machines than humans, then machines will inevitably be used, and more rapidly if the labor is unskilled or easily learned.

It would probably  be easier to have robotic lawyers than robotic automotive electricians, because the skill level is higher for the latter. Of course, cars are standardized to a degree that humans are not, and lawyers (perhaps those less skilled) are those who end up writing the laws, so I am not holding my breath on this one).

"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."