Anybody who seriously thinks this report in The Telegraph (HERE) about a strawberry picking robot being ready for Brexit is realistic, should go and lie down in a darkened room. This would require a robot to (a) recognise a strawberry (b) differentiate between ripe and unripe strawberries (c) find the strawberry under a mass of foliage (d) reach for it and pick it without damaging the plant too much (e) do this all on uneven open ground and (f) do it reliably.
None of this is impossible - I am sure any one or two of them could be done under laboratory conditions, with a bit of luck. And one day strawberries (and other fruit) will no doubt be grown in such a way that automated picking of some sort is actually conceivable.
But the idea that this is a practical proposition by next March is only for Telegraph readers who live in a sort of fantasy nether world where everything is possible if only the EU would stop issuing directives preventing us becoming rich and admired around the world for our cleverness.
