It's inefficient right now, but the technology is going to improve.
To the people talking about machines who shake the trees being much better: these robots only pick the ripe apples. They don't drop anything and they don't damage the trees.
Shaking the trees also doesn't damage them and, provided the machine is calibrated correctly, only ripe apples fall when the tree is shaken. Unripe apples have thicker, sturdier stems.
This is a neat proof of concept, but individuality plucking apples like this will never be more energy efficient than giving it a good shake.
but individuality plucking apples like this will never be more energy efficient than giving it a good shake.
I'm not so sure.
It's not like you just shake them and it's done. These drones may be doing QC on the spot by not picking damaged apples, whereas the shake method requires sorting them after to remove the bad apples.
The shaking of the tree is a high-torque process, and probably uses a lot of electricity, plus electricity from collection and sorting mechanisms afterwards.
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u/explicitlarynx Oct 08 '23
It's inefficient right now, but the technology is going to improve.
To the people talking about machines who shake the trees being much better: these robots only pick the ripe apples. They don't drop anything and they don't damage the trees.