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Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

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Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#121

Post by alienonwings »

andi999 wrote: post #117
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?

Given the fact that the training that goes behind this is a brutal busniess and the fact that monkey is a God figure, it would not be received well in India, I believe.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#122

Post by makach »

Very interesting work! I didn't see any cameras or any obvious sensors, is the robot autonomous or being remote-controlled? I always heard tell-tales about how dangerous it is to harvest coconuts and be near coconut trees. If the device can harvest quick and safely nothing is better.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#123

Post by Bang2Bay »

egghese wrote: post #100

It is quite interesting to read through the threads here. Most people generalize India in terms of society or income. The south of India is pretty different from the northern part. The state in the video here especially is vastly different in terms of socio-economic structure from the rest. The caste discrimination is almost non-existent in the Southern part of Kerala. In the context, it won't affect your choice of l…

Even in TamilNadu where there is no maoist presence, and strong right wing sentiment, poverty has diminished. poverty was because of denial of education by the british system, that favored the rich.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#124

Post by eeretekeh »

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 am from a southern district of Tamil Nadu.

Here, we follow a different method to cut the coconuts. The harvesters do not climb the tree. Instead, they tie together bamboo poles to form one long pole and tie a sickle to one end. The harvester then cuts the coconut bunch from the ground.

It is much more efficient and faster than climbing the trees. When I was young, I was fascinated by their craft. They are so good, that they could determine how ripen the coconuts were just by looking from the ground. Some times from very tall trees that are over 100 feet tall. And to balance a pole that large..

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#125

Post by Bang2Bay »

inglor_cz wrote: post #115
Bang2Bay wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I donot Think children of potus would suddenly become sewer cleaners either. is that determination by birth? Problem has been and is poverty. if british government treated india like england none of these problems would exist.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#127

Post by inglor_cz »

Bang2Bay wrote: post #125
inglor_cz wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I donot Think children of potus would suddenly become sewer cleaners either. is that determination by birth? Problem has been and is poverty. if british government treated india like england none of these problems would exist.

British government treated English (and much worse, Irish) working class like dirt too. Poverty in 19th century Britain was indescribable, even though people like Dickens tried their best to put the images into writing for future generations. Victorian Britain was extremely classist.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#128

Post by ensiferum »

Abishek_Muthian wrote: post #101

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 n…

Where i come from utility poles used to be (probably still are in fact) made out of wood and the electricians who would need to climb them in order to conduct their work would use special built contraptions attached to their legs.

https://www.finna.fi/Cover/Show?id=lusto.M011-138214&index=1...

I wonder if something like those would also work for climbing coconut trees?

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#129

Post by usrusr »

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?

Guessing up an explanation from half a planet away: if there are more palm trees than harvesting capacity, but harvesting capacity is sufficient for coconut demand, soft influence on harvesting capacity allocation will determine which coconuts get harvested. In a perfect market this would still balance out at maximising harvester income (on a low level but still), but it's easy to see that the market wouldn't be that perfect.

Re: Indian robot climbs trees to harvest coconuts

#130

Post by naruvimama »

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.

Islamic + Christian colonialism covered about 1000 years, during which time the natives or Hindus were second class citizens.

Somehow the poverty and destitution seems to be always blamed on the natives.

Moreover Caste system is a European system introduced by the British to divide up communities.

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