Are tomatoes picked by hand or mechanically?
I'm not sure, but whatever machine used would have to have some pretty sophisticated programming. Where I live, they used to be picked by hand very early in the morning (with all luck, after a hot, humid night, otherwise they don't get good and ripe). The other thing to remember, is that fruit doesn't ripen all at once. You can be picking off the same tree, vine, crown or bush for a couple weeks. Anything mechanized would not be able to make that distinction. It would pick anything and everything, even stuff that has mold, is being eaten by pests, etc. There's a lot more to it than just picking.