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Latest robot can pick strawberry fields forever
Japan Times ^ | 09/30/2013

Posted on 09/30/2013 12:53:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

A robot that picks ripe strawberries while farmers sleep has been unveiled with claims it could cut workloads by two-thirds.

The device, unveiled Wednesday, can pick a piece of fruit every eight seconds by using three cameras to determine which strawberries are ready to pick. A mechanized arm then darts out to snip each one free and place it into its basket.

The 2-meter robot moves on rails between rows of strawberries, which in Japan are usually grown in elevated greenhouse planters.

It “calculates the degree of ripeness from the color of the strawberry, which it observes with two digital cameras,” said Mitsutaka Kurita, an official at Shibuya Seiki, the developer of the machine.

“It also uses the images from the two cameras to calculate the distance from the target, then approaches the strawberry it is aiming at,” he said.

A third camera takes a detailed photo of the fruit, which it uses for the final calculation before moving in to snip it.

(Excerpt) Read more at japantimes.co.jp ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Science
KEYWORDS: robot; strawberries
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To: 1rudeboy
You missed the most important part: they want to tax you.

No. Obamacare taxes the person. Income tax taxes the sweat of one's brow. Property tax taxes a man's home and land. Tariffs tax stuff made outside the country that people here buy.
41 posted on 09/30/2013 1:14:38 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There's no salvation in politics.)
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To: Zuben Elgenubi

“Tomatoes are next!!!!!”

Please cotton next!!! Haven’t had to do it in ages but as a kid I picked cotten. Those bowls will cut up your fingers and them dang sacks were heavy!!!


42 posted on 09/30/2013 1:15:00 PM PDT by Syntyr (Happiness is two at low eight!)
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To: 1rudeboy
Bring manufacturing agricultural jobs back to the U.S.A.!
43 posted on 09/30/2013 1:16:45 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Ted Cruz for President!)
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To: SeekAndFind

George Martin, their music producer at that time, should always be given his just due. Were it not for George putting up with John’s multiple versions of this song and deciding on his own how to orchestrate before John heard the finished product, we would never have this gem. Paul’s song ‘A Long And Winding Road’ was the same. Spector (pre-murder conviction) decided to spruce it up with heave cellos and swirling choirs. Paul hated it at first, but grew to like it, as the popular version. I think George Martin still lives in foggy old England. The opening trumpets in “All You Need Is Love” Georges’ idea, so I have heard.


44 posted on 09/30/2013 1:17:32 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Dr. Sivana

Apart from the fact that increasing tariffs increases the price of domestic products (that’s their object, after all), and domestic products that use foreign inputs, you have a point. I think.


45 posted on 09/30/2013 1:17:50 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: SeekAndFind

This technology was in use back in the late 70s. I went inside a rice storage facility and they had the machine that “realizes” the broken or wrong colored rice and a fan blows it out. It is being used everywhere today. It’s amazing what man has built.

And by the way, this strawberry pickin’ machine is racist and so is the guy who invented it, the manufacturer who made it and the farmer who uses it.


46 posted on 09/30/2013 1:18:54 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: Uncle Miltie

For the record, I have no problem with robots picking my strawberries. If it makes our strawberry industry more competitive, even better. I’m just wary of Luddites.


47 posted on 09/30/2013 1:19:32 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Dr. Sivana
Tariffs tax stuff made outside the country that people here buy.

Exactly! We could put a tariff on foreign oil, raise the price to $200/bbl, wouldn't make the slightest change in domestic oil prices. Right?

48 posted on 09/30/2013 1:24:25 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Science is hard. Harder if you're stupid.)
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To: 1rudeboy

I’m agreeing with you in advance of the Luddite onslaught with < / sarc > not required.


49 posted on 09/30/2013 1:26:55 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Ted Cruz for President!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Johnny 5 is ready!

50 posted on 09/30/2013 1:26:56 PM PDT by PLMerite (Shut the Beyotch Down! Burn, baby, burn!)
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t see that thing rolling around in the dirt. Just picking in a lab or someplace. Good luck with that.


51 posted on 09/30/2013 1:28:03 PM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Domo arigato fieldhands roboto,
Domo arigato fieldhands roboto!

Until Skynet activates and they pick our joojoobs.


52 posted on 09/30/2013 1:28:32 PM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: Toddsterpatriot
C'mon, man . . . don't you trust in the goodwill and patriotism of the American manufacturers who pay their lobbyists to petition out government for protection?
53 posted on 09/30/2013 1:28:40 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Hotlanta Mike

That looks like a set up for hydroponics, I wonder how well it would work traveling narrow rows between plants and picking berries at ground level.


54 posted on 09/30/2013 1:28:47 PM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: Toddsterpatriot; 1rudeboy
Exactly! We could put a tariff on foreign oil, raise the price to $200/bbl, wouldn't make the slightest change in domestic oil prices. Right?

Oh, it would (and all substitute fuels like natural gas and ethanol, and anything that uses a lot of oil to produce or transport). But that would not be a tax. The original poster stated that protective tariffs tax "you".
55 posted on 09/30/2013 1:29:02 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There's no salvation in politics.)
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To: 1rudeboy
The primary cause of e. coli infections from raw fruit and vegetables is from something called 'fecal splashing' where field hands squat in the rows and let go. It's a real thing. I know much more about it than I want to.

/johnny

56 posted on 09/30/2013 1:32:29 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Dr. Sivana
Yeah, and we could tax coffee beans to promote their cultivation in North Dakota. Someone like you might show up later to claim that your $18 cup of coffee is not "taxed," but I'd like to see you get people to believe it.
57 posted on 09/30/2013 1:33:00 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: JRandomFreeper

Ok, show me the study.


58 posted on 09/30/2013 1:33:51 PM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: SeekAndFind

Someone’s knocking at the door.


59 posted on 09/30/2013 1:35:18 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Impeach We Much!)
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To: Hotlanta Mike

“Going to put the illegals out of business...”

No, illegals are here to vote for Democrats instead of working! Don’t let them fool you.


60 posted on 09/30/2013 1:36:24 PM PDT by kcvl
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