Robot News: How to Become a Billionaire via Grape Harvesting

How do you make a small fortune in the wine business? Start with a large one. HAR HAR. But let's talk about robots and how they could make someone very rich in the business of harvesting wine grapes. The Oregonian has the story about a French-made, vine-pruning robot named "Wall-Ye-France" that wowed onlookers during a recent appearance in a Willamette Valley vineyard. And yes, I did have to look up the date of the posting to make sure this wasn't some April Fool's Day prank I belatedly stumbled across. (Post date: 3/31.)

Winemaker Ken Wright, owner of the vineyard where the demonstration took pace, though impressed with Wall-Ye-France's potential pruning prowess, would be much more impressed with a version that could gently harvest bunches of grapes. Regarding a breakthrough of this magnitude in mechanical grape harvesting, Wright told The Oregonian, “It would be huge. Whoever makes that machine will be a billionaire.”

Watch Wall-Ye-France in action. How do you feel about a robot replacing human labor?