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Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

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11–20 of 23 posts

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#11
There is low hanging fruit in this specific application for Agbots.

The way wine grapes are grown, carefully trained and groomed to grow in a line, a specific shape and orientation, almost like an entire field of carefully shaped bonsai trees. Once it's established, a vineyard doesn't change much year to year. It's a ideal place to start with agbots and get things right before going to more complicated applications. The labor costs are also high, and highly seasonal as many of these vineyards are in expensive coastal areas like Nor Cal.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#12
In Northern California's olive growing regions I've been noticing a trend towards tearing out old olive trees and replacing them with trees that are grown on trellises in the same fashion as grapes. This appears to be done to utilize the picking robots that were specialized for vineyards. It's interesting to think that pruning practices like espalier, coppicing and hedging could be brought back to utilize robotics efficiently for any number of fruiting trees and bushes.

Kinda wish we got rid of timber fences and just put up hedges of fruit trees all in between houses, with roaming robots to tend to their production.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#13

I recently volunteered to help a local vineyard harvest their grapes. It was a learning experience, and I thought about robots and if they'd be suitable. Part of the "skill" involved was leaving grapes on the vine that hadn't ripened 100%. Furthermore, the care required to gently clip and extract the grapes from a "viney" plant without damage or loss was sometimes tricky. Hard to see a robot mastering the process, wi…

Even more so when you see how quickly a skilled harvester runs through a vineyard. They're pulling clusters almost every other second.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#14

I recently volunteered to help a local vineyard harvest their grapes. It was a learning experience, and I thought about robots and if they'd be suitable. Part of the "skill" involved was leaving grapes on the vine that hadn't ripened 100%. Furthermore, the care required to gently clip and extract the grapes from a "viney" plant without damage or loss was sometimes tricky. Hard to see a robot mastering the process, wi…

Even more so when you see how quickly a skilled harvester runs through a vineyard. They're pulling clusters almost every other second.

No need for speed when your runtime costs nothing.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#15
Just another way to replace moderately qualified jobs by some opaque tech. I understand why it happens, but this isn't progress. Making good wine requires dedication and experience from everyone involved, that's not what you'll buy when you get one of these perfectly controlled products. But let's Ikea everything non essential as well... that's good for the wealthy after all.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#16

In Northern California's olive growing regions I've been noticing a trend towards tearing out old olive trees and replacing them with trees that are grown on trellises in the same fashion as grapes. This appears to be done to utilize the picking robots that were specialized for vineyards. It's interesting to think that pruning practices like espalier, coppicing and hedging could be brought back to utilize robotics ef…

That's weird. Most modern plantations use the "Super Intensive" method with specialized machines.

https://invidious.fdn.fr/watch?v=4RnDldkqUb4

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#17
post #2

It looks like autonomous robots are on everyone's lips lately, that's awesome, because it's really interesting topic (at least for me). What would you suggest reading to create my first robot? I mean the hardware part, not the programming one. Thank you

Check out the stuff at Pololu robotics, they have parts all the way up to full kits

Super weird thing to be downvited for

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#18
post #15

Just another way to replace moderately qualified jobs by some opaque tech. I understand why it happens, but this isn't progress. Making good wine requires dedication and experience from everyone involved, that's not what you'll buy when you get one of these perfectly controlled products. But let's Ikea everything non essential as well... that's good for the wealthy after all.

You'll still be able to buy wine from handpicked grapes, it'll (eventually) just cost a premium.

Re: Autonomous robots to help modernize grape, wine industry

#19

In Northern California's olive growing regions I've been noticing a trend towards tearing out old olive trees and replacing them with trees that are grown on trellises in the same fashion as grapes. This appears to be done to utilize the picking robots that were specialized for vineyards. It's interesting to think that pruning practices like espalier, coppicing and hedging could be brought back to utilize robotics ef…

Is that really a trend? Because olive trees take decades to grow and at least 3 years to bear so I have a hard time believing they’re being ripped out and restarted.
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