- Apr 15, 2011 3:27 PM EST - [num] Comments Robots are currently
being developed to take over one of the most labor intensive
jobs out there: farming. Scientists in Israel and Europe are
developing just such machines, which could identify, spray, and
harvest crops. This selective spraying could potentially reduce
the use of pesticides by 80 percent. "The technology is ready,
and now we can start seeing this penetrating into the market,"
researcher Yael Edan told Discovery News. "I would say there
will definitely be robots out there in five years — maybe not be
on every farm, and maybe not for every farmer. I think now the
time is there." The biggest hurdle is developing computers and
robots that can identify vegetables and fruits accurately. So
far researchers have been able to achieve this with about 80
percent accuracy, but that's still far less than with an actual
person.