The Picker Tech harvester is on tracks, making it easy to turn and reducing soil compaction. A concern about mechanically assisted harvesting of fresh apples has been the amount of bruising that might be caused by the machine. Dr. Ines Hanrahan, project manager with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, conducted preliminary tests with the Oxbo mobile harvesting system last season and concluded that fruit ­damage was within acceptable levels. The machine was developed by Picker Technologies. Hanrahan did the tests at the company’s machine shop in Bellevue, Washington, using Golden Delicious, a variety that is particularly sensitive to bruising. […]