The Apple Drone Is Finally Here

Even without an ongoing pandemic disrupting supply chains and making it an even bigger challenge to hire seasonal labour, being a farmer is hard work, especially around harvest time. A company called Tevel Aerobatics Technologies believes it’s come up with a better harvesting solution for fruit farmers with the apple drone: beating that other tech company to the punch.

To clear up any misconceptions, it’s not a drone from that company making iPhones and iPads, but a flying tethered quadcopter with an outstretched arm attached that can intelligently target, grab, and pick apples off a tree, before dropping them onto a collection device. The solution is far from the first time that harvesting fruits and vegetables on a farm has been automated through the use of intelligent machinery and even robots, but fruits like apples often benefit from human harvesters who can visually inspect when it’s ripe enough to pick while handling it with the necessary care to not cause bruising…