Vision Robotics is well along in developing a robotic pruner for grapes, shown at work above, and the robotic shears pictured in the inset photo. Apple tree canopies are more three-dimensional than grapes and pruning decisions harder to make, a problem that will be addressed by experimenting on the tall spindle system, which uses a simplified renewal pruning process.Photos courtesy of Vision Robotics If researchers achieve the goals they have set for themselves, apple and grape growers should see the day when their dormant pruning will be done by robots instead of people. Pruning is labor-intensive and accounts for about […]