To build a “hand” for a robot apple picker, Joe Davidson first had to learn how to pick apples. After all, he was an engineer, not a farmer. “Picking apples seems like a very simple thing to do,” ...

In Central Washington this fall, robots will pick apples in limited-scale trials in the ongoing race to commercialize a robotic apple harvester. U.S. apple growers have been pining for robotic ...

Apple orchards are largely untouched by automation. But that could be changing. Recent breakthroughs in robotics and ...

In the orchards of Central Washington, a new kind of technology is revolutionizing the fruit tree industry. One of the robots being tested is 14 feet tall and has six mechanical arms with suction cups ...

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Harvesting Washington state’s vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farmworkers, and many of them work illegally in the United States. That system eventually could ...