Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

newatlas.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 180 posts

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#101

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

I'm from Southern India as well. We have four coconut trees in our house, it's as common as having a lawn in U.S. but having coconut trees has economic benefits to us as coconut is part of our daily diet.

The trees are over 25 years, it's taller than a two storey building[1], it's getting harder to find someone who can bring down the coconuts as the article states and also to maintain the trees(debris). Many of our neighbours have removed their trees for the same reasons and we have started to contemplate it as well, but it's hard to think about as these trees are like our family members.

So, naturally I've thought of mechanical devices which could solve this problem, there have been numerous attempts to solve this problem by various institutions and independent inventors incl. use of robotics like in OP; but those without human intervention hasn't made it mainstream and only those devices which help a climber climb fast/safe has seen some success.

[1] https://imgur.com/gallery/1KBjCcj

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#102

Post by Bang2Bay »

the reason why these coconut jobs pay less is because, the product does not fetch too much. there is stiff competition for the produce to be sold within few days. some posters discussing discrimination have no sense or understanding. the discriminated 'part' was the entire country. I grew up with coconut trees. I do all the hardwork mentioned and would take the coconuts to be sold and would get no more than 1 rupee in the late 80s. people did not have money to pay for coconut. if it costed more they would go without coconut for a couple of weeks.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#103

Post by faeyanpiraat »

411111111111111 wrote: post #71
brainless wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Indians, me including and people I know of, do not understand the concepts of pricing that Western countries talk about. Even now, in 2020, this comes up frequently in product pricing when I talk to founders in India who haven't seen the Western notion of pricing first hand.

There are a lot of people that don't understand it in the west as well. It's also not as easy as some people make it sound. After all, it's the perceived value of both parties making the trade and not the actual value that's important.

Is there a difference though?

If I perceive a “perceived” value, who perceives the “actual” value?

Spreadsheets?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#104

Post by wraptile »

iratewizard wrote: post #60
ponker wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people have more empathy for animals than for humans. The idea of a monkey forced/encouraged to climb a tree for a coconut tugs at their heartstrings the way a person does not.

Done right, it's the opposite for me. Those monkeys can live a happy life in the same way as an ox that pulls a tiller.

> Those monkeys can live a happy life in the same way as an ox that pulls a tiller.

Those are very strong implications you are making. What makes you think an ox that pulls a tiller is _happy_?

Generally enslaving an animal to do something is considered unethical. How we much of "unethical" we accept as a society is a completely different matter though.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#105

Post by seszett »

pkphilip wrote: post #96
vinay427 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like you're answering on behalf of a large group of people with differing views that your comment doesn't at all reflect. I, for one, oppose this monkey labor and I would argue I don't have more empathy for "animals than for humans." I try to be equal in many respects and would oppose humans being coerced into doing this as well. It's why I oppose slavery, for instance.

Why would you have an issue with monkey labour when bulls et are routinely used for farming and transportation in India?

Why would you think they don't have an issue with both?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#106

Post by hombre_fatal »

ponker wrote: post #42
thaumasiotes wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There recently was a huge controversy in Thailand about using monkey labor for coconut harvesting Well, I read the article. Why exactly is this supposed to be a problem? By all accounts, it's a good idea that works well.

Many people have more empathy for animals than for humans. The idea of a monkey forced/encouraged to climb a tree for a coconut tugs at their heartstrings the way a person does not.

Not sure this is the best place to belabor ethics, but the reason it may seem someone has more empathy for animals is because animals are fully helpless to understand what's being imposed upon them, and they are always in an enslaved relationship with us.

Free human adults may be the victim of a circumstance that has them shambling up coconut trees, but they have an end to end understanding of why they're doing it, and they still have a domain of choice that's always broader than that of any animal and the enslaved.

I don't think too many people who are against animal labor are for human slavery. Free humans who get to tacitly choose which crappy job to do in their squalor still much more power than the enslaved. We can even reach self-actualization as long as we are given the illusion of free choice among bad options. Rescuing lower sentience from slavery comes before rescuing free humans from crappy choices, imo.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#107

Post by 05 »

aaron695 wrote: post #46

I'd be going drones if doing anything techy as a solution to pick coconuts. I feel like specialist equipment is going to cost to much IRL. Drones will continue to advance and have more people who can work with them. Not saying drones would be cost effective either, but I think at least you can pivot. Also see Sreamers - https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/

Then you’ll need this robot to get the drone out of the tree..

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#108

Post by saberdancer »

daggerdrone wrote: post #58
dxbydt wrote: post #21

I grew up in a remote village in south India. We had over two dozen coconut trees in our yard. I made a long loop in the mud that went around all these trees. I'd pull water out of the well using a rope & pulley & pour it down the loop. The water would wind its way until it reached all the two dozen trees. About an hour of this water pulling & the loop would stay wet for a few hours. This sort of manual work was stan…

Just out of curiosity, if there was shortage of coconut harvesters, why were they poor? Can't they demand more money for the task?

I'm guessing that while there is a shortage, coconuts are so low value that no one will pay them more. So they tend to be hard to find but paid poorly.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#109

Post by egghese »

aaron695 wrote: post #46

I'd be going drones if doing anything techy as a solution to pick coconuts. I feel like specialist equipment is going to cost to much IRL. Drones will continue to advance and have more people who can work with them. Not saying drones would be cost effective either, but I think at least you can pivot. Also see Sreamers - https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/

For coconuts, you can't solve just harvesting alone. It need to be harvested right. Coconut trees has a comparable life span to a human. If it is not harvested correctly, which including only picking ripe coconut, cleaning the top etc. The farmer will loose years of investment due to one action.
Post reply on HN