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The world of robotics and artificial intelligence seems to be advancing faster than we ever could have imagined.

Check out some of the incredible tech at the Consumer Electronics Show 2021, which included a robot butler and an autonomous car, to see what I mean.

Robotics is making its way into all sectors of society, including the agricultural industry.

Tevel Aerobotics Technologies has developed flying fruit-picking robots that provide autonomous on-demand harvest.

(Seth reckons Johann Domms, in Robertson, should be taking notes).

Here’s The Spoon:

Tevel, based in Tel-Aviv, Israel, has developed a patented platform called FAR (Flying Autonomous Robots) that is a combination of the actual flying robots, algorithms, AI, and data analytics.

The flying robots are equipped with computer vision and AI that detects fruit and foliage, and identifies the type of fruit, size, and ripeness. Attached to the drone is a three-foot-long claw for grabbing and picking the fruit.

Additionally, the small drones are capable of other tasks like pruning, trimming, and thinning of orchard trees.

Watch it in action:

Just to clarify – when this guy says that “people all over the world” are abandoning agricultural jobs, he is by no stretch of the imagination talking about South Africa.

According to Statista, in Q1 of 2020, approximately 255 000 South Africans living in the Western Cape were working in the agriculture industry. In KwaZulu-Natal, 133 000 people work in the industry, with 126 000 in Limpopo.

Those are the regions with the highest employment numbers at the start of last year.

Here’s a breakdown of the rest:

Image: Statista

For a larger version, head here.

Sadly, these numbers have been steadily declining, especially during the pandemic, and in parts of the industry that produce products like wine, due to the alcohol sales bans, with the loss in revenue forcing employers to retrench staff.

[sources:statista&spoon]