In an Associated Press article by Gosia Wozniacka, using robots to sort, thin, harvest and handle fruits and vegetables was examined.

Blue River Technology and their Lettuce Bot; Vision Robotics and their lettuce thinner (and orange harvesting bots); and Spanish company AgroBot and their strawberry harvester were all reviewed.

Labor saving devices like these new robotic devices are seen as helping fight an inability to secure legal farm workers. “There aren’t enough workers to take the available jobs, so the robots can come and alleviate some of that problem,” said a farming operations manager.