Biggest orchards could soon use ROBOT fruit pickers

Harvesting Washington state's vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farm-workers, and many of them work illegally in the US. Two of the biggest orchards could soon replace the majority of these workers with robots that don't get tired and can work 24 hours a day. But experts have expressed their concerns over the robotic fruit pickers, claiming they will displace valuable members of the Washington community. Harvesting Washington state's vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farm-workers, and many of them work illegally in the US FFRobotics is developing a machine that has three-fingered grips to grab fruit and twist or clip it from a branch. The machine would have between four and 12 robotic arms, and can pick up to 10,000 apples an hour, Mr Kober said. One machine would be able to harvest a variety of crops, taking 85 to 90 percent of the crop off the trees, Mr Kober said.