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Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

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Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#111

Post by 411111111111111 »

faeyanpiraat wrote: post #103
411111111111111 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Yes, take the original situation for example. The coconut harvester and the person employing him perceive the work to be of very low value.

As such, the actually valuable work with high danger, which should've been paid appropriately is significantly underpaid.

/edit: maybe its easier to relate in the context of the tech industry... while it has significantly less impact on the employees live its prevalent there as well, and in both directions.

fresh graduates which get less then a third of a full employee while still producing basically the same value to the employer. (this obviously depends on the graduate, but surely everyone knows that people at the start of their career tend to be significantly underpaid). both the graduate and the employer just don't perceive their work to be as valuable.

its just as easy to find the pendulum swinging in the other direction as well... people which might even effectively sabotage the work of others while still looking perfect to the person paying the bill, essentially increasing their perceived value to the person paying the bill while effectively reducing the actual throughput/quality.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#112

Post by Bang2Bay »

distant_hat wrote: post #91
daggerdrone wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

In India, dangerous stuff often pays less due to caste and other considerations. Manual sewage cleaners have a really high death rate in India and are paid peanuts.

what 'caste and other consideration' are you talking about? are you saying some castes were not allowed to climb the trees?

how much would you pay for a coconut?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#113

Post by Bang2Bay »

manquer wrote: post #95
daggerdrone wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

During 1970's time frame that OP is talking about, it is largely the effect of thousands of years caste based discrimination that denied education and basic rights for a big chunk of the population. Today it is problem of economics. Coconut trees typically grow in state of Kerala, a lot of the population there work in the Middle East oil economies , the pay is considerably better there. Paying competitively does not…

so are you saying india was economically flourishing in the 1970s and today suddenly there is poverty that you would not pay the tree climber? how much did you make in the 1970s selling coconuts? Re 1? equivalent to 1/50th on the US dollar?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#114

Post by kumarvvr »

manquer wrote: post #95
daggerdrone wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

During 1970's time frame that OP is talking about, it is largely the effect of thousands of years caste based discrimination that denied education and basic rights for a big chunk of the population. Today it is problem of economics. Coconut trees typically grow in state of Kerala, a lot of the population there work in the Middle East oil economies , the pay is considerably better there. Paying competitively does not…

>Coconuts outside the big cities event today are dirt cheap you can get a dozen for something like $1

Nah. Even in most rural places, coconuts are now priced at around 50 cents each.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#115

Post by inglor_cz »

Bang2Bay wrote: post #112
distant_hat wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In India, dangerous stuff often pays less due to caste and other considerations. Manual sewage cleaners have a really high death rate in India and are paid peanuts.

what 'caste and other consideration' are you talking about? are you saying some castes were not allowed to climb the trees? how much would you pay for a coconut?

Even in the West we consider some jobs off-limits to holders of certain offices. Imagine a SCOTUS judge cleaning sewers for money or shooting porn when the court is not in session.

Caste works in a similar way, but is determined by birth.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#116

Post by anon9001 »

blueblisters wrote: post #86

Looks like this was an undergraduate learning project rather than a practical solution to harvesting coconuts. It reminds me of ABU Robocon, where undergraduates representing different countries compete to build the fastest robot using off-the-shelf parts that can solve an abstract problem. The point wasn't to fix a real-world issue but to serve as a learning tool, push technological boundaries and hopefully land a j…

From the description:

> The contest aims to create friendship among young people with similar interests who will lead their countries in the 21st century, as well as help advance engineering and broadcasting technologies in the region.

That's pretty wholesome.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#117

Post by andi999 »

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…

I heard in Thailand they trained monkeys to do the job. Is this also a possibility for India?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#119

Post by kumarvvr »

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 also agree with you. However, there are large downstream effects of tech jobs.

1. Lots of people in rural places migrate to urban and semi urban places and make a living off of providing some sort of service to people in tech jobs.

2. A large section of young population in rural areas come to cities and start businesses, very small scale, such as eateries, curry points, trades, cab drivers, etc.

3. A good chunk of people go into the maintenance and services sector, such as building maintenance, sweepers, contractor jobs, etc.

4. A good chunk are employed in the large and ever expanding construction works in almost every nook and corner of India.

So each IT tech job, indirectly employs a bunch of other jobs, most of which are done by younger people.

So tech jobs do put a huge dent on the availability of labor services.

As an example, I am an engineer in a highly respected company, earning on par with an IT guy. But in the last decade, labor cost (daily wages for unskilled labor, usually in the construction business) has gone up to be about 1/4th of what I earn in one day. And that is a significant increase. It used to be about 1/10 of what I earned.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#120

Post by inglor_cz »

rootsudo wrote: post #30

I enjoy the conversation here. So many people are assuming there is true thought in OPEX, CAPEX, and employer rights and employer safety in these operations. As others mentioned, Thailand used Monkeys. There is so much of a disconnect between this crowd and the farmers and the people this robot will actually replace. What is the average annual income of a farm hand in Thailand, Philippines, or any country that has co…

"I don't see it succeeding or replacing farm hands for the reasons above."

In my country, the first horseless carriage (car) was produced in 1897.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr%C3%A4sident

It still took cars about 40 years to displace most horses from the larger cities. But the sign was on the wall in 1897. Once such labor-saving technology exists, it tends to improve, slowly or faster, to the point that humans or horses cannot really compete anymore.

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