Dan Wheat/Capital Press Joe Davidson, a Washington State University mechanical engineering doctoral student, demonstrates use of a robotic apple picker at a WSU field day in Prosser, Wash., on Sept. 17. Such a device could be a big labor saver for the apple industry. A robot able to pick apples fast enough and gently enough to be economically viable could be a huge boost to the apple industry in labor savings and in meeting labor shortages. Manoj Karkee, associate professor of biological systems engineering at the Washington State University research station in Prosser, and a new company, Abundant Robotics, of Menlo Park, Calif., tested robotic picking in Central Washington orchards last year and again this fall. About a dozen companies around the world and another three to five research groups are working on the robotic harvest of apples, citrus, bell peppers, cucumbers and other fruits and vegetables predominantly picked by hand, Karkee said.