He and his department recently received a half a million dollars from the USDA to develop a machine to pick apples. As he explains, picking an apple is very complicated. “The human being is still the most effective picker.” Most crops grow in a way that present relatively simple solutions: corn and wheat can be whipped up in a combine, cherries can be shaken from a tree, even delicate grapes hang in a way that allow for easy machine plucking. But apples are both delicate and hard to get to. The trees have long, spindly branches and for years they were staggered and without rows.