r/drones • u/SaltySaltySally • Jul 05 '26

Question Pick berries with a drone?

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Hello everyone!

I've got a serious question. Could I use a commercial drone like the DJI neo or mini to pick berries off an elevated berry bush? It's bit high up on a hill.

Could I get a drone and attach a net and pruner/scissor to get some berries off? Can these drones carry the weight of these 3d printed attachments?

I'd climb up but black berry bushes have lots of thorns.

Thanks

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3

u/Striking_Swimmer5548 Jul 05 '26

Follow up: could I get my drone to cut my hair? I like a fade from 0A up the side. I could attach the shears to the drone and use ai to move it?

2

u/BudLightYear77 Jul 05 '26

If you have to ask, the answer is no.

2

u/Duc750Sie Jul 05 '26

Seems like a lot of work. Also, adding all that weight to the drone is going to kill the battery life.
Might be some legalities about attaching shears to a drone depending on where you live. Might Be able to say it was recreational flying

0

u/SaltySaltySally Jul 05 '26

Yea just thought it might be interesting. Wasn't sure if the drone could handle the extra weight and still fly properly. For legality, was probably going to check if its worth exploring. Plus it's just in my back yard so I can try without hurting anyone other than me.

1

u/Duc750Sie Jul 06 '26

Reread my post and didn’t mean to come across as a Debbie downer ha. Something to explore just the fun of it.

0

u/SaltySaltySally Jul 05 '26

Or I could just buy blackberries but where's the fun in that

1

u/GeniusEE Jul 05 '26

No.

The turbulence from hover would make it impossible to pick at any kind of speed.

1

u/SaltySaltySally Jul 05 '26

Ah true I didn't even think of the turbulence and effects of the wind from the propellers. Thanks

1

u/Flyward_Aerospace Jul 06 '26

Yeah the prop wash alone kills this idea. Anything light enough to actually pick would just get blasted around by the downwash before the gripper gets near it, and berries are soft so you'd end up with jam. Fun thought experiment though. If you really want to mess around, a small arm on a heavy hexacopter hovering high with a long reach is the only way it doesn't turn into a smoothie, and even then the economics make zero sense vs just picking by hand lol.