[KeyLargo]

So when the illegal aliens are given amnesty and in the near future the majority are replaced by mechanization of agriculture the Democrats will have more millions to add to not only the voter rolls but add to welfare rolls when they are displaced by machines.

"The technology is maturing just at the right time to allow us to do this kind of work economically," said Derek Morikawa, whose San Diego-based Vision Robotics has been working with the California Citrus Research Board and Washington State Apple Commission to develop a fruit picker."

A technician monitors a scout robot that uses stereoscopic cameras to digitally map the location of apples in an orchard row. The information would be downloaded to a second harvester robot that would pick the fruit.

[dsrtsage]

Excellent. We can use the billions saved to pay the welfare benefits for all of the unemployed illegals.

[Gaffer]

Yeah, but can they take a dump or in the middle of the field like our illegal workforce and start an E.Coli epidemic in the food chain?

[Buckeye McFrog]

so....instead of 2/3 of them being on welfare, they’ll ALL be on welfare....swell!

[C. Edmund Wright]

...but....but....but...I thought the very minute we rid ourselves of the illegal workforce, that millions upon millions of motivated honest hard working American laborers would be pouring into these positions? So why the need for these gadgets?

[The Sons of Liberty]

Wall-E-Like Farming Robots Could Replace Undocumented Workers and Save the US Billions

Sounds like a very good plan, but will they vote dimocratic and provide kickbacks to fat cat politicos?

[dfwgator]

Wish we had these about 200 years ago....would have saved us from a lot of problems.

[NonValueAdded]

Before Wall-e

[mkboyce]

Next time some twit-box RINO or bleeding-heart D-Rat gets in your face about the US needing cheap labor to ‘do the jobs that Americans will no longer do’...show them this.

And it will only get better as time marches on.

I think we’d rather have several thousand design engineers and skilled machine operators, than a few million illiterates hunched over in the fields.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Terrific. They’ll unionize; Robot Local 213. Solidarity!

[cripplecreek]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

" Problem is, federal crackdowns on undocumented laborers have decimated that workforce."

No one seems to have caught this laugher yet.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I saw a very old photo of a giant, steam powered harvesting machine used in the early part of the 20th Century. It was truly immense and complex. I mention it because the use of machines in agriculture has been a continual pursuit since then.

And for over 100 years now, it has been known that some crops are easily tended and harvested with machines, others are not and perhaps cannot be, at least not cost effectively.

Factors that truly matter include the cost of the machine, its fuel, and maintenance, plus multiplying the amount of the crop wasted for being under- or overripe. Likewise, “mechanical damage” of much more of the crop.

So it boils down to, is it cheaper to use machines or men?

[buffaloguy]

AG automation has been delayed for years due to cheap labor but it appears that the cost for really effective robots has decreased to the point that it is going to pay off with possibly big numbers.

Robots can work all day and all night and are going to be really efficient allowing one guy to control much larger areas both for planting and harveting.

[Dr. Sivana]

Of course, the Mexican laborers will be replaced with H1b visa techs from India, as the Americans want to much money to program farm equipment.

[PA Engineer]

A modern day cotton gin. Economics can drive technology and technology will further refine economics, unless government intervention screws the whole thing up.

[factoryrat]

It’ll never gain a foothold. Between the big agribusiness and illegal labor lobby, they’ll shut this down before it ever starts. The number 1 reason is up front costs for the technology, the skilled labor required to maintain it, and the largest reason, government subsidized illegal labor.

[PLMerite]

I couldn't find a picture of one in a sombrero.

[Secret Agent Man]

how will we save billions, they won’t be working and will be on welfare!?!

[GOPJ]

Necessity is the mother of invention just as cheap labor's the death of invention.

I believe the Civil War South was backwards BECAUSE they had cheap slave labor... the North had to invent. In the short run cheap labor's a plus - in the long run it's a narcotic that kills innovation.