Oregon State University Engineering recently came to the Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center’s orchard in Hood River to test out a pear picking robotic arm.  MCAREC Director Brian Pearson says one of the hurdles was for the robot to see the fruit in the tree, and another is to successfully pick it gently and smoothly.  He says the goal now is to refine that process, and after that it will be to make the process quick and efficient.  Pearson says it is definitely not right now, with human pickers much faster at this point.  He adds they will also test developing orchards that are more two dimensional in nature, something that is already happening in apple orchards.