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Comment by synaesthesisx | Hacker News Reader

The issue seems to be that fruit is often obscured by leaves/plant matter - why not use ultrasound or something to help locate the strawberries?

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I can't really tell from the video, but they would, in addition to knowing a strawberry was behind a leaf, need to know if they were ripe or not --so they would have to push leaves out of the way to tell visually via color if they were ripe; unless there are other signals that could be used. Basically, "presence" is not equal to "ready for picking".

> so they would have to push leaves out of the way to tell visually via color if they were ripe

That's also what people do, seems to work OK (I grew up in Florida and did lots of u-pick strawberries).

Agreed. But since the article mentions the current system not being able to detect strawberries behind leaves, they'd have to adapt it to one, detect a strawberry behind foliage, two determine readiness for picking.

So, yes, moving leaves and color works for people, but is that also the best method for an automated mechanical system?

Don't know about best, but it could work. I'd easily imagine some horribly spider like appendage expertly pushing leaves aside and sticking a little camera in there, probing for them little berries.

Or blow some air on the plants, rustling the leaves, sensors picking up any red between the green then going in to pick the strawberry.

So a hypothetical strawberry variety that ripens simultaneously would help this by eliminating this step?

Also, ripe strawberries are quite different in mechanical properties from the green ones, I imagine that ultrasonic methods could possibly be useful for this too.

My thoughts exactly. I've always though the whole artificial eye thing was often unnecessarily limiting the range of perception (and thus capabilities) to what humans are accustomed to.

Maybe part of the answer is in the form factor of strawberry plants. Like olives for instance. They grow olives now in windrows of little bushes, like a low hedge and harvest them with a machine that straddles the rows. Which obviously is a lot more efficient then getting them out of a tall tree.

You're comparing harvesting from a tree/small tree to harvesting from a vine that, by nature, always grows very close to the ground. Many plants in strawberry fields are maybe a foot high (often less), and very dense.

You've seen hanging strawberry baskets right?

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/strawberry/ha...

Point being we don't have to grow things in their natural forms. And we often don't. Olives, after all "by nature" are big trees (which was the point, not to suggest growing strawberries exactly like olives).

And this is without even talking about selective breeding for a different form factor for strawberries. Never mind severe genetic alteration we can do nowadays.

Baskets might work for your garden, but not for a big strawberry field. That solution doesn't scale.

But something like it does scale: Tiptree farms https://youtu.be/q3XUXH76YBE

Thank you.

We seem to have a problem with "something like" in this thread.

Not talking about literal baskets or literally growing strawberries like olives. Those are just examples of different growth form factors that 1) allow automation and 2) clearly show the strawberries on the outside.

Just a bit of a rant. If everything has to be explicit robots are going to take your jobs kids. Need to be able to think in general principals to stay safe from that.

How is that any easier to harvest from with a robot? And land + baskets + hanging aparatus starts to get cost prohibitive..

Well, if you look at the picture in the strawberry basket link I posted you will clearly see the strawberries hanging outside the vine in plain view, solving the problem of strawberries hidden under the leaves that can't be seen by the machine.

"land + baskets". Sigh. See my comment above.

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