Across the globe, startups are testing robots to pollinate everything from blueberries to almonds to tomatoes. The robotic revolution is being sped up by ‘deep learning’—a method that trains artificial neural networks that mimic the human brain. Advances in deep learning over the past decade have vastly improved AI’s ability to recognise images. This makes it easier for startups to develop robots that can quickly and accurately identify flowers for pollination, which could increase yield compared with insects and human workers.