US: Data center project to test crop-picking robots Purdue University Northwest will test out crop-picking robots at a new greenhouse at the Digital Crossroads Data Center in Hammond. A team of Purdue University Northwest College of Technology researchers have landed more than $1 million in federal and private funding to test the new agricultural technology, which has the potential to help farmers facing labor shortages. "Machine operators would remotely pick tomatoes, strawberries, fruits and vegetables," Purdue University Northwest Economic Development Director Don Babcock said. "You can grow the vegetable and fruit and harvest them remotely when they're ripe. That's the concept. It's something really unique we're doing in Northwest Indiana we need to amplify."