Skip to footer

Meanwhile in ... Minnetonka, Minn., agribusiness has developed the first robot cowboys

And in Southampton, England, community members formed a line more than 500 feet long to help a small independent bookstore move to a new location.

|
Courtesy of Cargill Inc.
Robotic cattle driver
  • By Staff

In Minnetonka, Minn., agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. has developed the first robot cowboys. The three-wheeled machines are being used to coax cattle between pens at Cargill facilities. By taking over dangerous close-in work moving the large animals they allow humans to keep a safe distance.

The robots’ long arms can wave, imitating the motions of human cowhands. Speakers in the units utter cowboy commands like “Come on, let’s move it” or “Hey, hey.” The 450-pound robot cowboys cost about $40,000 apiece. 

In Southampton, England, community members formed a line more than 500 feet long to help a small independent bookstore move to a new location. Last month some 200 people turned out to move the entire inventory of October Books down the street, handing the books from person to person.

Local cafes brought tea to the volunteers. Curious passersby learned what was happening and joined in. It took only about an hour to transfer 2,000 books to the store’s new home in a former bank building. 

In Palau, the government will ban the use of sunscreens that contain chemicals harmful to the coral reefs that surround this tiny tropical island nation. The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2020, is similar to one already in effect in Hawaii.

Stores caught selling sunscreens with the banned chemicals will face fines of as much as $1,000. The sunscreens will be confiscated from tourists who try to bring them into the country.

Studies have shown that chemicals such as oxybenzone and octinoxate, found in many brands of sunscreens, are harmful to coral formations and other ocean life.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Meanwhile in ... Minnetonka, Minn., agribusiness has developed the first robot cowboys
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2018/1122/Meanwhile-in-Minnetonka-Minn.-agribusiness-has-developed-the-first-robot-cowboys
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe