De Gaulle famously said...

Comment voulez-vous gouverner un pays qui a deux cent quarante-six variétés de fromage?
(How can you govern a country which has two hundred and forty-six varieties of cheese?)

The district of Gruyere is primarily French and the French are absolutely infatuated with their cheeses; for them it's a religion. I'm not the least surprised that they would build complex electro-mechanical devices to tend to their beloved wheels.