Researchers from the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering published their work on an apple-picking inflatable robot arm. To make the arm flexible, the researchers talked to manufacturers and people who work with textiles, ending up with the inflatable tube man-like material the model uses. Little damage would be done if they bumped into each other, meaning less expensive repairs, and people would be safe to work around the machines. WSU’s Prosser Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center and Cornell University researchers are working on upgrades for the webcam in the robot’s palm and the “RGB and depth” camera on the main body. “Right now they’re working on how to count the exact number of apples in a cluster to determine which to pick first,” Dorosh said.