Robots in Farming

I once read about automated farm equipment controlled by GPS to allow really precise and straight plowing and harvesting of fields.  That seemed like a fairly straightforward application of technology to farming.  Last year I saw an article in IEEE Spectrum about more exotic robotic equipment.  The article describes research and development being done in Japan on a very complex strawberry picking robot.  The robot is designed to recognize when a strawberry on a vine is ripe, grip it with just the right pressure not to crush it, pull it off, and place it in a container.  The robot is designed to work very similar to how a human would pick strawberries.  The article actually criticizes the application because it is not cost effective compared to paying human strawberry pickers, especially in the U.S.  It may be an expensive proposition now, but electronics are becoming every cheaper and more ubiquitous and some day true human replacement robots will be common in the agriculture industry.  I agree that simpler applications are a better starting point than a strawberry picker, but eventually complex applications like this will be common for robots.  For backyard agriculture, how about a robot that chases rabbits away from your gardens and picks weeds!


[1] Perry, Tekla S. January 2009. "Fruitless A Strawberry-Picking Robot Won't Be Displacing Farmworkers Anytime Soon." IEEE Spectrum.