A Californian based technology company, Abundant Robotics has developed an automated apple picking robots. They are currently being used in New Zealand with plans to spread the robots wherever there is a market. Certain criteria must be met before orchards are robot ready and these include high density planting and specific pruning methods. Robots are useful in that they can pick at a faster speed than humans and access apples at the top of the trees which can be difficult for humans to access. Other companies are also developing automated robots to aide with fruit picking, including a robot which tests the ripeness of strawberries. Who knows? We might be seeing such technology in Lebanon soon.