[bob1029]

> no regards for economics

This is the #1 killer every time.

You will always find the most efficient farm machinery to be the least human-like in its design principles. The more it looks like something out of Mad Max the better.

Unless we come up with a machine like the combine harvester for blackberries, no one is going to be interested.

[Loughla]

>Unless we come up with a machine like the combine harvester for blackberries, no one is going to be interested.

Good news! https://airharvesters.com/

Clarkson's farm taught me that this is already a thing.

[Animats]

There are several kinds of blueberry picking machines. There are air-blast pickers that blow the berries off the plant. There are ones with wheels of vibrating sticks. There are ones that get a comb around the plant and pull.

Some berries get damaged, yes. Some leaves and twigs get through. They're separated out by a very fast vision-based sorting machine before packing.[1] That's been standard technology for a decade or so.

Apple picking is still in the R&D stage.[2] Cost needs to come down to $0.02 per pick.

It's great to see startups in this area, but the thing has to work. There are too many failed ag robotics startups.[3] Ask "could you pressure-wash this thing"? If there are wires, electronics, and bearings exposed, it's still experimental.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ica3FLAvPas

[2] https://goodfruit.com/lots-of-bots-video

[3] https://www.futurefarming.com/tech-in-focus/field-robots/cha...

[m463]

> Ask "could you pressure-wash this thing"?

Is that a necessary requirement? I mean, that would probably damage current harvesters, who are human people.

I mean, there are lots of parts of cars where pressure washing would probably force fluid into the bearings.

Might that not apply to hydraulic, pneumatic or electronic systems too?

(I do get what you're saying though)

[Animats]

Pressure washing a combine harvester.[1] Also trucks, tractors, etc. End of harvest cleanup for a farm in Minnesota.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-dOW2wn0rM

[elcritch]

Yes, powerwashing would be wanted. That's an IP69K, not too hard to hit with some basic mechanical protections.

Unless you need delicate sensors which need direct contact to samples to work.

Maybe it's not a complete necessity, but generally it's gonna be mixed in with big farm equipment that is power washed. The more you have to "coddle" the equipment the less cost effective it'll be for farmers.

Farm workers generally know how to wash themselves. Still I'd wage good money farm hands have used power washers on each other. Probably work well to clean off work coveralls!

[andylynch]

Used to work on a farm, and yes we did do this.

Also, our wash down hoses were basically power washers, but like 10x the volume.

[pjc50]

> used power washers on each other

Probably, but this is unsafe - you don't want to deal with high pressure jets of water or flying debris near eyes.

[skeezyboy]

>Farm workers generally know how to wash themselves. Source?

[9rx]

> Is that a necessary requirement?

Strictly it needn't be if it offers an even better solution, but, realistically, what startup trying to introduce a new technology (that isn't cleaning technology) has time to also develop a novel way to clean things? It is such an unlikely scenario that it isn't worth considering.

[9rx]

> You will always find the most efficient farm machinery to be the least human-like in its design principles [...] the combine harvester

Oh? I find my human-based process for separating grain to be of the very same principles as the combine. The specific mechanics aren't exactly the same. For example a combine has a fan, while I have lungs. But the principle — using airflow to aid in separation — is the same.

The sprayer is the only piece of equipment on my farm I can think of that employs a different principle to do the job as compared to how I would do the job by hand.

[dagw]

In most cases if you want to machine harvest you have to design your field around that. A vineyard, for example, that is designed to be machine harvested looks very different from one that is designed to be hand harvested. So if you want to machine harvest blackberries at scale you probably have to plant and manage your blackberry bushes in a specific way to allow for machine harvesting.

[MarkusQ]

> "...plant and manage blackberry bushes..."

Have you ever dealt with blackberry brambles? Because "plant" and "manage" aren't the words that come to mind. "Dominate" and "contain"... maybe?