Apple picking Robot

What is one of the most consistent and major complaints coming from farmers across the entire nation? I can't find enough labor to help me manage my farm or ranch. You certainly can't find average American citizens to work fundamental jobs on the farm. These days, all kinds of businesses are having difficulty opening their businesses back up because too many of these so-called average American workers are making more money via their unemployment benefits.

A possible solution comes from the Campus of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa ID. , An amazing Ag innovation…

That not only furthers Ag but solves a growing problem…a labor problem.

NNU got a $132-thosand specialty crop grant from the State Department of Agriculture to develop an apple-picking robot. 

The goal of the project is to develop an orchard robot (OrBot) that can be programmed to assist with harvesting fruit. Engineering student Marina DeVleig:

“So it runs through a color filter and usually takes photos of fruit’s position and when it runs through the color filter it does it based off an RGB threshold, object shape and size, it detects the apple and filters out by the biggest apple, from that finds the center and that controls the PID filter.”

The research team is well on its way to perfecting the delivery system.