How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future • Hacker News Board

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#21

Post by mrfusion » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:33 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #16

mrfusion wrote: post #13

Does anyone know how strawberries are harvested? I've been toying with the idea of a produce harvesting robotics startup. But I guess the first step is to talk to some farmers?

Humans are currently too inexpensive to make a harvesting robot worth the cost (sadly enough). Let's say you spend $10M on R&D (a very low number in my opinion), each robot costs $50k to build, and maintenance/repairs cost $5k/year. You decide to charge your first customer $100k because you have to cover some of your R&D, and you pass all the maintenance costs on to them. For that $105k per year, a farmer could hire…

Good points. I guess your argument might vary by crop though. So I'm curious if there are crops that are closer to that economic threshold. Mangos?

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#22

Post by henrikschroder » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:35 PM UTC

lostcolony wrote: post #10

illegalsmile wrote: post #5

Driscoll strawberries are disgusting when compared to a more natural and naturally grown strawberry.

What kind is that, exactly? Since, you know, humans have been selecting and cultivating plants for specific characteristics since the beginning of agriculture. And that's all that this article is describing, saying "I like this characteristic, lets try breeding it with this other strain and see what comes about". I would be interested in these primitive, untouched by man strains you seem to be referencing, as such, a…

I found some brand of organic strawberries here in the US that tasted exactly like wild strawberries, but were of course much larger and sweeter, surpassing the original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragaria_vesca

Also worth noting is that there is no such thing as a "natural" strawberry, they're all hybrids: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#23

Post by beambot » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:45 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #13

Does anyone know how strawberries are harvested? I've been toying with the idea of a produce harvesting robotics startup. But I guess the first step is to talk to some farmers?

The Blue River (robotic harvesting startup) "lean startup" story is super (super!) illustrative: https://medium.com/startup-down/how-blue-river-used-the-lean...

Yes, you should talk to as many farmers (and labor companies) as possible.

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#24

Post by cwal37 » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:50 PM UTC

crististm wrote: post #7

I'd like natural strawberries, thank you very much!!! Edit: The downvoters are free to be subjects for future genetic engineering projects themselves.

The really hilarious thing is that this article is entirely about traditional breeding. Genetic engineering or modification isn't mentioned even once. Your bias is kind of amusing in how reactionary it is.

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#25

Post by gabbycmcnabb » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:51 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #15

terravion wrote: post #11

Reiter/Driscoll's is incredibly progressive and tech savvy as a grower. Their research operation is truly first class. They are the only grower we've worked with that has writen their own API client without any assistance--pretty slick for a decades old company whose main expertise is in trucking, labor, land, and plants.

Your comment made me start reading about your company. Really cool stuff! Do you use drones or regular aircraft?

Ultimately we are platform agnostic: Once drones are economically efficient, reliable, safe, we'll happily transition to them. Until then, we'll use regular aircraft that have proven themselves as economical collection platforms.

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#26

Post by beambot » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 7:51 PM UTC

smt88 wrote: post #16

mrfusion wrote: post #13

Does anyone know how strawberries are harvested? I've been toying with the idea of a produce harvesting robotics startup. But I guess the first step is to talk to some farmers?

Humans are currently too inexpensive to make a harvesting robot worth the cost (sadly enough). Let's say you spend $10M on R&D (a very low number in my opinion), each robot costs $50k to build, and maintenance/repairs cost $5k/year. You decide to charge your first customer $100k because you have to cover some of your R&D, and you pass all the maintenance costs on to them. For that $105k per year, a farmer could hire…

Your accounting ignores the uncertainty inherent in immigrant labor -- i.e. all the indirect costs associated with severe labor shortages when the political winds shift. The story in Georgia a few years back is telling [1]. For example, if immigration is curtailed, labor shortages will cause issues. If immigration is permitted, then healthcare costs could skyrocket. Robots are (at least) predictable -- and that can be a huge win in a lot of cases.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/05/17/the-law-of-u...

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#27

Post by terravion » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 8:14 PM UTC

beambot wrote: post #23

mrfusion wrote: post #13

Does anyone know how strawberries are harvested? I've been toying with the idea of a produce harvesting robotics startup. But I guess the first step is to talk to some farmers?

The Blue River (robotic harvesting startup) "lean startup" story is super (super!) illustrative: https://medium.com/startup-down/how-blue-river-used-the-lean... Yes, you should talk to as many farmers (and labor companies) as possible.

The strawberry commission is also funding a start-up that is specifically focused on strawberry harvesting. However, the industry has done a lot with partial automation.

They have these multi-row picking support tractors that mean that the pickers don't have to spend much time walking with boxes (or running!! they are paid by weight or box) and can spend time doing the thing that is hard to automate.

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#28

Post by smt88 » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 8:32 PM UTC

mrfusion wrote: post #21

smt88 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are currently too inexpensive to make a harvesting robot worth the cost (sadly enough). Let's say you spend $10M on R&D (a very low number in my opinion), each robot costs $50k to build, and maintenance/repairs cost $5k/year. You decide to charge your first customer $100k because you have to cover some of your R&D, and you pass all the maintenance costs on to them. For that $105k per year, a farmer could hire…

Good points. I guess your argument might vary by crop though. So I'm curious if there are crops that are closer to that economic threshold. Mangos?

I've heard of crops where a machine shakes the tree, and the crop falls to the ground (maybe some kind of nut?). Then another machine vacuums them up and separates them from other debris.

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#29

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 8:34 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #19

smt88 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are currently too inexpensive to make a harvesting robot worth the cost (sadly enough). Let's say you spend $10M on R&D (a very low number in my opinion), each robot costs $50k to build, and maintenance/repairs cost $5k/year. You decide to charge your first customer $100k because you have to cover some of your R&D, and you pass all the maintenance costs on to them. For that $105k per year, a farmer could hire…

More variables: picking only ripe fruit; handling the fruit more carefully; picking more rapidly so you can share the robot with many growers; refrigerating the fruit from the moment of picking. Any of these could make it worthwhile?

[deleted]

Re: How Driscoll’s Is Hacking the Strawberry of the Future

#30

Post by smt88 » Wed, Jul 29, 2015, 8:34 PM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #19

smt88 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Humans are currently too inexpensive to make a harvesting robot worth the cost (sadly enough). Let's say you spend $10M on R&D (a very low number in my opinion), each robot costs $50k to build, and maintenance/repairs cost $5k/year. You decide to charge your first customer $100k because you have to cover some of your R&D, and you pass all the maintenance costs on to them. For that $105k per year, a farmer could hire…

More variables: picking only ripe fruit; handling the fruit more carefully; picking more rapidly so you can share the robot with many growers; refrigerating the fruit from the moment of picking. Any of these could make it worthwhile?

Humans have evolved to be good at identifying and handling ripe fruit. I think a machine could be better, but it'd take a ton of R&D.

If a machine picks fruit 2x faster (which is unlikely, check out a YouTube video of people picking), then you still only need 2 people to beat it in efficiency.