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Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

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Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#11

Post by just4tscomment »

Hokusai wrote: post #6

> As the population increasingly moves towards tech jobs, there's now a shortage of coconut harvesters in India. This seems a very bold claim. I can believe that there is a shortage of people willing to do this job, but it is very hard to believe that the reason is the tech jobs. Even in the USA IT workers represent less than 5% of all jobs. Otherwise interesting how automation is increasing around the world.

I find that claim fairly dubious as well. The primary job killer currently is COVID-19, and it has hit India hard. There are numerous restrictions on labour and several farmhands \(migrant workers from other states\) have returned home.

This news report, dated August elaborates: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/future-looks-bl...

Worth noting that the university in question is situated in the same province, Tamil Nadu. Section 144 has been imposed, which is a law that prohibits gatherings/assembly and gives the police sweeping powers to arrest/detain curfew breakers.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#13

Post by dzhiurgis »

vikrantrathore wrote: post #10

This is good as a learning exercise and may be result in something useful in future. So for sake of learning and advancement good. As far as claims to replace coconut harvesters, a bit of a stretch to probably attract funding with marketing. Why not built a mechanical crane with a platform to help the worker to do better job with safety at heights to harvest a coconut and than apply the same for multiple tasks like r…

Crane would be way more complex and something like 50x more expensive.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#14

Post by aussieguy1234 »

accurrent wrote: post #3
aussieguy1234 wrote: post #2

I'd doubt this will end the exploitation of the slave monkeys that are forced to pick coconuts. They're likely cheaper than a robot. For this reason, I don't buy coconut products from Thailand. https://investigations.peta.org/monkeys-abused-coconut-milk/

The idea is pretty neat imo. Its a simple mechanism. Over the long term I suspect it may even be cheaper to use the robot cause the robot does not need to be fed or managed. I'm tempted to build one myself as the parts cost doesn't look like it'll exceed $1.5K. The music in the video though... According to https://www.wfft.org/wildlife-general/a-growing-trade-monkey... monkeys cost between $1000-$4000/head Also do no…

So depending on the monkey the robot may be cheaper.

Another cost farmers will likely look at is the cost of a monkey handler, which are widespread vs the cost of a specialised employee who can operate a robot. Unfortunately, the monkey handler is likely cheaper.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#15

Post by magicsmoke »

deathhand wrote: post #4

Sadly this illustrates the current state of Robotics - HARD. This was 3 years with multiple people's lives. The industry as a whole needs to go down the same route as computers did which are common platforms that fit together that get the job done. Sadly there needs to be a behemoth in this space first(1960s IBM) that does all this work that society as a whole then can profit from(Facebook today)

I'd say this reflects how problems in the physical world are hard in general. The robotics industry does have common platforms in the form of robotic arms used in automotive manufacturing. But they take away all the messiness and noise of the physical world by locking humans away and only allowing the arms to manipulate carefully designed prefab components. It's a similar situation in the world of computing because our silicon chips don't make full use of the analog design space. Rather, they stick to digital circuits with clearly defined voltage levels and clocking margins. By not pushing silicon design to its absolute limits and sticking with artificial restrictions that improve reliability, computer programmers don't have to worry about analog voltage drops across the chip and focus only on ones and zeros. Creating this same artificial environment for robots would involve turning the messy world we live in into a factory floor.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#16

Post by satya71 »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #13
vikrantrathore wrote: post #10

This is good as a learning exercise and may be result in something useful in future. So for sake of learning and advancement good. As far as claims to replace coconut harvesters, a bit of a stretch to probably attract funding with marketing. Why not built a mechanical crane with a platform to help the worker to do better job with safety at heights to harvest a coconut and than apply the same for multiple tasks like r…

Crane would be way more complex and something like 50x more expensive.

Also the crane probably can't reach 90% of the trees in an orchard (or is it grove?).

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#17

Post by nirmalc »

Hokusai wrote: post #6

> As the population increasingly moves towards tech jobs, there's now a shortage of coconut harvesters in India. This seems a very bold claim. I can believe that there is a shortage of people willing to do this job, but it is very hard to believe that the reason is the tech jobs. Even in the USA IT workers represent less than 5% of all jobs. Otherwise interesting how automation is increasing around the world.

I don't think it's because of tech jobs. But it is true that there is serious shortage of coconut harvesters in South indian states. The job is not very well paid compared to risk ( coconut market itself is not very stable and rewarding). Not sure if there are any good occupational accident insurance policies available to them.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#18

Post by ferbass »

aussieguy1234 wrote: post #14
accurrent wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea is pretty neat imo. Its a simple mechanism. Over the long term I suspect it may even be cheaper to use the robot cause the robot does not need to be fed or managed. I'm tempted to build one myself as the parts cost doesn't look like it'll exceed $1.5K. The music in the video though... According to https://www.wfft.org/wildlife-general/a-growing-trade-monkey... monkeys cost between $1000-$4000/head Also do no…

So depending on the monkey the robot may be cheaper. Another cost farmers will likely look at is the cost of a monkey handler, which are widespread vs the cost of a specialised employee who can operate a robot. Unfortunately, the monkey handler is likely cheaper.

As far as i know training this monkeys takes time, the robots will do the job right away if you put this in the long term the robots is cheaper than keep a monkey. But of course they should make it simple in the way that a non specialized employee can operate the bot without any problem.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#20

Post by vikrantrathore »

dzhiurgis wrote: post #13
vikrantrathore wrote: post #10

This is good as a learning exercise and may be result in something useful in future. So for sake of learning and advancement good. As far as claims to replace coconut harvesters, a bit of a stretch to probably attract funding with marketing. Why not built a mechanical crane with a platform to help the worker to do better job with safety at heights to harvest a coconut and than apply the same for multiple tasks like r…

Crane would be way more complex and something like 50x more expensive.

That’s where the innovation comes up, use materials and structure to bring down the costs. Even if initially it costs higher, it can pay back by it’s multi-use, maintenance, energy efficiency by using mechanical energy applied by human muscle with creative use of hydraulics and mechanical designs.

Usually multi-purpose robots cost way higher and requires more maintenance and costs. Given the average labour costs in India with over 10% unemployment in urban areas and much higher in rural areas created by economic mismanagement for second term by the current government. I believe human labour is more versatile and cheaper, if supported by right amount of technology in India. It’s crucial for its development.

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