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Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

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Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#41

Post by colechristensen »

danielheath wrote: post #23
ajpgrealish wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small Robot Company have a robot called Dick which uses "Non-Chemical Weeding", i.e. they zap the weed to kill it, and it's root. They use other small robots to do the mapping and planting. I really like the idea of small, specialised robots for different tasks. https://www.smallrobotcompany.com/weed-killing

Weed zapping is fascinating - but putting the kind of power electronics required to deliver sufficient voltage in a mobile robot is terrifying from an OHSA perspective. One group I'm familiar with are using 50kv (and "more than enough" amps) for the purpose.

It's not really. Plenty of people have handheld tasers powered by 9v batteries and plenty of farm equipment can (and does) mangle people not being careful around very dangerous machines.

This is just a misunderstanding of the risks involved in various things.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#42

Post by tracker1 »

sidibe wrote: post #7
justinator wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's monocrops that are problematic.

I'm not saying either of you are wrong but the we'll be needing the robots to do it other ways or 10x as many farmers. It takes a ton of labor to deal with weeds and other issues in a more sustainable way

No reason the robots won't reach "other ways" at a point either. I think it will take a lot of combinations of solutions over time.

I still think there should be a lot more rotation between general crops, animal grazing and replenishment cycles. "Live" soil is becoming a problem and we keep extracting/killing it faster than it's getting replenished. Not to mention all the pesticide issues.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#44

Post by 8bitsrule »

Freethink brings a high degree of polish to their videos. Great for promotion. Not so sure about the 'think' part yet.

Another interesting Freethink video: "Generalist vs. specialist: Which Is Better?". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER2R-F68L0c

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#45

Post by jws »

Maybe a dispensing system which more selectively targets the weeds should instead of using less killer, use a less effective killer.

Instead of some clever bit of selective plant killing molecular wizardry, just spray the weed with lye (NaOH). Dissolve the weed and any overspray or residual will lightly raise the pH of the soil. If you have alkaline soil problems, then maybe use sulphuric acid instead.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#46

Post by illys »

modeless wrote: post #12

Seems like it should hoe each weed instead of spraying it. I guess that's a little harder to do. Maybe a lot harder. Two other things I thought were interesting in the video. One, the idea of mapping the whole field is pretty cool. There must be useful things you could do with a millimeter-scale 3D map of an entire field. Two, this is happening in California, just a few hours' drive from Silicon Valley. I hope some o…

I saw on one of the illustrations that the spray is made of acetic acid. Pretty natural product, aka vinegar at low concentration.

Well targeted as they seem to do, I guess it is a good product to preserve the soil and wanted plants with no harmful residues.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#47

Post by zmix »

abledon wrote: post #40

I'd love to work in this industry as a developer... coming from web/cloud what would the average interview be like? Is it more leetcode style? or system design? I would only want intermediate developer position at most for starters. What are some projects that would make someone stand out for AgTech Robotics stuff?

> What are some projects that would make someone stand out for AgTech Robotics stuff?

I guess, in addition to the typical engineering stuff (AI, robotics, etc.) to work with these companies on startup-level, a passion for agriculture, especially historical agriculture, might be what could set you apart from competition.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#48

Post by modeless »

colechristensen wrote: post #41
danielheath wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weed zapping is fascinating - but putting the kind of power electronics required to deliver sufficient voltage in a mobile robot is terrifying from an OHSA perspective. One group I'm familiar with are using 50kv (and "more than enough" amps) for the purpose.

It's not really. Plenty of people have handheld tasers powered by 9v batteries and plenty of farm equipment can (and does) mangle people not being careful around very dangerous machines. This is just a misunderstanding of the risks involved in various things.

Yeah there are tons of really dangerous things on farms, like Paraquat, or power take-offs. Power doesn't have to be electrical to kill you. Mechanical power will do the job just fine.

Re: Robot treats 500k plants per hour with 95% less chemicals [video]

#49

Post by Hermitian909 »

bamboozled wrote: post #5

Weeds are the enemy /s But really, the whole idea of having perfectly manicured fields like that with no sign of any weeds around seems like the real problem to me. Zero biodiversity…we wonder where the insects are going ?

Having worked a farm for a few summers, my understanding is that we're dealing with the following set of tradeoffs.

1. If you allow weeds, you'll need to till the soil to maintain yields

2. If you till the soil you erode it, damaging the the long term health of your farm and water supplies.

3. If you drop yields globally, people starve (and farmers go out of business)

Since eroding the soil harms biodiversity in a different set of ways, killing weeds seems like the least bad option. Ideally we wouldn't require harsh chemicals to do that but no one has quite figured it out.

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