Only practical in large scale operations, it would seem. And you would still need humans to pick the fruit that is more difficult to reach.
And by the way, there are other hand-intensive tasks in apple growing.
Thinning (can be approximated by chemical thinning sprays).
Pruning (can be approximated by giant mechanical hedge shears).
Picking is a critical node, exploited by unions. Getting fruist to market first is prime price. Getting it before it rots or freezes is survival. Timely harvest is the make-or-break culmination of a whole year’s(or more) investment and effort.
This is not new:
Deportee
Woody Guthrie
The crops are all in
And the peaches are rotting
The oranges piled up
In their creosote dumps
You’re flying ‘em back
To the Mexican border
To spend all their money
To wade back again
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won’t have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be “deportees”
Some of us are illegal
And others not wanted
Our work contract’s up
And we have to move on
Six hundred miles to that Mexican border
They chase us like outlaws
Like rustlers, like thieves
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won’t have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be “deportees”
The skyplane caught fire
Over Los Gatos Canyon
A fireball of lightning
Shook all our hills
Who are all these friends
Who are scattered like dried leaves
The radio said
They were just “deportees”
Good bye to my Juan
Goodbye Rosalita
Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria
You won’t have a name
When you ride the big airplane
All they will call you
Will be “deportees”