14 June 2021 / The surprisingly complicated technology that goes into picking winners Choosing and gathering an apple is simple for humans, but it’s a task that has frustrated robotics researchers for decades. Now, thanks to a Matrix simulation-style training regime, it seems it’s finally within reach. Credit: Ambi Robotics. C an robots be trained to pick up after us? A recent breakthrough in machine learning could point the way toward a much more tactile future for these smartest of machines. In April the ABC carried a report about a new machine put to work in the apple orchards of Tasmania, helping pickers – of whom there are far fewer, because of pandemic-closed borders – to shoulder the burden. Instead of bearing a heavy sack of freshly picked fruit, the machinery offers a conveyor belt from picker’s hand to storage bin. That seems a small thing, until you consider what it means to be freed of 10 or 15 kilos of dead weight every time they reach up to pick another apple. Even that little bit of help makes the job easier.