A vacuum picker under development by Abundant Robotics of Menlo Park, California, has the apple industry closer than it’s ever been to fully automating harvest — a potential game changer for growers and the industry at large. Abundant co-founders Dan Steere and Curt Salisbury talk about the latest trials during a demonstration in a Central Washington orchard in 2016. (© TJ Mullinax/Good Fruit Grower)