Slashdot Mirror
Robots Are Trying To Pick Strawberries. So Far, They're Not Very Good At It (npr.org)
Robots have taken over many of America's factories. They can explore the depths of the ocean, and other planets. They can play ping-pong. But can they pick a strawberry? From a report: "You kind of learn, when you get into this -- it's really hard to match what humans can do," says Bob Pitzer, an expert on robots and co-founder of a company called Harvest CROO Robotics. (CROO is an acronym. It stands for Computerized Robotic Optimized Obtainer.) Any 4-year old can pick a strawberry, but machines, for all their artificial intelligence, can't seem to figure it out. Pitzer says the hardest thing for them is just finding the fruit. The berries hide behind leaves in unpredictable places. "You know, I used to work in the semiconductor industry. I was a development engineer for Intel, and it was a lot easier to make semiconductor chips," he says with a laugh.
Go half-way down the article, and you'll find this nugget:
Also, he admits, the machine is slower than human hands. On the other hand, it has some advantages. It can work right through the night, when berries are cooler and less fragile.
Another two years, he says, and this machine will be in the fields working for real. "There's quirks to work out, but it's getting there. We're close," he says.
While the headline makes it seem like the robot picker is far from reality, the people working on it don't think so. And it's not just a minor project:
Strawberry companies representing two-thirds of the industry are putting millions of dollars into this project.
The robots are indeed coming for our jobs. Because if they can pick strawberries, what can't they pick?*
*Their nose.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
>and it was a lot easier to make semiconductor chips
If you have 6 biliion dollars to spend on equipment
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
well, not these robots (these ones are coming for Migrant farm workers jobs). There's been a huge push in the US to kick the migrant farm workers out, mostly it's racially motivated. Nobody in America really wants to pick strawberries for a living. Aside from it being awful work with low pay it's seasonal, meaning you can't have a stable family even if the pay was OK.
To be fair there's a lot of blue collar jobs (drywall, home repair, construction) that are also being done by illegal immigrants. As a tech worker who's seen his job prospects cut down by the H1-B program it's hard not to sympathize with a plumber seeing less work because anything bigger than a drain pipe is being done by contract firms that employee illegal labor.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Or at least not this Human.
Many years ago during the summer between University semesters I was unable to find a conventional job. My parents wanted me to to try anything, so after much cajoling I tried becoming a professional strawberry picker... It didn't turn out so well. Those that do it for real work, are really good at it, and probably a bit crazy as well. At the time in the mid-late nineties minimum wage where I was located was 5.85$ I think. Strawberry picking you were paid by volume. After working for a couple weeks, I figured out one day that I was probably pulling in less than 2$ an hour because I was so slow at it. Not willing to face my parents without seeming to give it at least the old college try, I dutifully drove to the farm each morning, parked my car by the side of the road, and read a book all day, returning at the end of the day. I did this for a couple more weeks, until I could finally go and say I tried but it really wasn't working out. It is really hard, dirty, hot work...
Best left to the Robots, or at least once they figure it out...
There's been a huge push in the US to kick the migrant farm workers out, mostly it's racially motivated.
Wrong, as even you admit at the end of your post.
But even for labor that supposedly "no American will do" (which I find questionable since no-one has asked the huge homeless population of California if they'd be willing to try)... Even there, the issue is that if we did want to use really cheap labor from abroad - why can that labor not come in legally?
Lots of people do not like illegal immigrants not because of race, but because of them being here ILLEGALLY. They have jumped the line as it were over many, many people of the SAME RACE that are trying to get here legally. That's what many people dislike, they are fine with immigrants - but there is a process to go through to become one. Go through that and (almost) everyone will welcome you with open arms.
In fact many legal immigrants who came from Mexico have the same issue with illegal immigrants, they went to the trouble of coming in properly and see it as unfair someone else just gets to walk in.
Canada sure doesn't let just anyone in through the U.S.. Why should the U.S. not have as rigorous control over immigration as pretty much any country on Earth?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
All they have is algorithms, data, and a glorified table lookup.
There is no fucking intelligence in these machines.
If they _actually_ had intelligence they could figure out the process _themselves._
i.e.
How Smart Are Crows? | ScienceTake | The New York Times
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...
Stream it? Just live trace it as cartoon animation and make it a Facebook game. If Farmville is any indication, we'll see free workers freely recruiting more free workers.
Not too terribly long ago we were told these were jobs that Americans wouldn't do. Now apparently we're to believe they're jobs nobody will do:
Strawberry companies representing two-thirds of the industry are putting millions of dollars into this project. Gary Wishnatzki, the owner of Wish Farms, got the whole thing started. The reason, he says, is that it's getting more and more difficult to find enough people to pick his berries.
"The fact of the matter is, if we don't solve the problem of this labor shortage with automation, the industry's up for a big challenge ahead. The price of fruit's going to be much higher," he says.