The article uses the fact that tomato mechanization blossomed after Bocero ended as evidence that the same will happen in this case.
There are a number of problems with that.
First, tomato mechanization had been researched for what looks like a couple of decades before Bocero ended. It was a solution in search of a problem, then the problem came. So not all fruits yet have suitable mechanical harvesting mechanisms.
Secondly, in order to use mechanical harvesting (with today's equipment anyway), you have to actually plant differently! Wider, longer rows for example. Or different varieties. So farmers would need some time to prepare.
In the long run certainly it should be mechanized from an economic point of view.
From a technical point of view, someone on HN needs to hack a Kinect onto a robot and make an autonomous harvester that can work with multiple types of plants!
There are a number of problems with that.
First, tomato mechanization had been researched for what looks like a couple of decades before Bocero ended. It was a solution in search of a problem, then the problem came. So not all fruits yet have suitable mechanical harvesting mechanisms.
Secondly, in order to use mechanical harvesting (with today's equipment anyway), you have to actually plant differently! Wider, longer rows for example. Or different varieties. So farmers would need some time to prepare.
In the long run certainly it should be mechanized from an economic point of view.
From a technical point of view, someone on HN needs to hack a Kinect onto a robot and make an autonomous harvester that can work with multiple types of plants!