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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]

#191

Post by hericium »

Tade0 wrote: post #182
hericium wrote: post #171

It still uses some "95% less" chemicals to kill plants. Why not laser, some pull-from-ground mechanism or scissors to get rid of unwanted plants?

Many weeds store most of their energy/nutrients in deep roots. You cut down the visible part and shortly after that it regrows like it's nothing. The city gardening service in my neighbourhood is waging constant war on what appears to be a forest of bushes now, which they unwittingly sow and expand through cutting plants with ripe fruit. Not only do the parent plants regrow, a new generation is formed each time they…

> Many weeds store most of their energy/nutrients in deep roots.

On the other hand, plants exchange nutrients and also harmful stuff via their root systems. That's why you plant "companion plants" for other plants to grow quicker.

Spraying unwanted plants with sub-centimeter accuracy seems pointless since these plants transfer those chemicals to unsprayed plants.

> You cut down the visible part and shortly after that it regrows like it's nothing.

If you cut the plant close to the ground, will it really regrow as a properly pruned plant? What if you cut it multiple times, just as it starts regrowing?

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

#192

Post by parineum »

modeless wrote: post #52
illys wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's cool, yeah, precise targeting should remove the need for highly toxic herbicide.

That seems opposite to me. Precise targeting would allow the use of highly toxic herbicides in minute quantities.

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

#193

Post by sshine »

ajuc wrote: post #190
sshine wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could simultaneously absolve the need for autonomous vehicles, because whenever you need to go somewhere, you could just make the giant arm put you there.

That's called a train. It's great. You can read a book while you are transported, it uses very little power to get you there, it can be 0 emission, there are no traffic jams. Sadly it's not fashionable cause you can't show off how wealthy you are by using it.

I occasionally take the train because I like the atmosphere.

In Europe, taking the train is often more expensive than flying.

Sadly it's not fashionable because it isn't cheaper and takes a lot longer.

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

#194

Post by borispavlovic »

ajuc wrote: post #190
sshine wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This could simultaneously absolve the need for autonomous vehicles, because whenever you need to go somewhere, you could just make the giant arm put you there.

That's called a train. It's great. You can read a book while you are transported, it uses very little power to get you there, it can be 0 emission, there are no traffic jams. Sadly it's not fashionable cause you can't show off how wealthy you are by using it.

First class wagons are used exactly for that, to show the wealth.

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

#195

Post by rmason »

diordiderot wrote: post #173
rmason wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching that video made me joyful. I was an agronomist in the early nineties walking soybean fields twelve hours a day mapping weeds and then going back to the office making what's called postemerge chemical recommendations to get most of the weeds that I had observed. During those hot days having then written software for a hobby I thought there has to be a better way. Could a sprayer map weeds and apply chemicals…

The best parts of that job was when you stood still for a minute late in the season, completely oblivious to the stream of fire ants pouring into your boots

I could tell stories for hours. The scariest one:

I did a lot of soil testing. Refused to go out on November 15th, the start of deer season, after the 4WD pickup I was using was shot up in a field. I hugged the floorboard as shots went through the truck and just over me. How a bright yellow pickup could be confused with a deer is beyond me.

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

#198

Post by bluSCALE4 »

bitL wrote: post #197

On one hand, this will maximize crop per area. On the other hand, it will kill off all insects that require diverse sets of plants, causing issues in the food chain above. The long-term consequences are unknown, likely not good.

I'd think you'd be able to identify good and bad bugs. If you mean killing off bad bugs will have unknown consequences, then yeah, probably.

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

#199

Post by Apanatshka »

sshine wrote: post #193
ajuc wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's called a train. It's great. You can read a book while you are transported, it uses very little power to get you there, it can be 0 emission, there are no traffic jams. Sadly it's not fashionable cause you can't show off how wealthy you are by using it.

I occasionally take the train because I like the atmosphere. In Europe, taking the train is often more expensive than flying. Sadly it's not fashionable because it isn't cheaper and takes a lot longer.

That's because trains get taxed, while flights _still_ get subsidised. It's maddening.

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

#200

Post by ajuc »

ForrestN wrote: post #86
Ancalagon wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also I think maintenance of 1000 tiny drones is going to be a lot more difficult than that of one big tractor

This isn't intuitive to me. If one big tractor has a failure, the whole operation shuts down. If 1/1000 drones breaks, swap in a spare and move it to some kind (potentially automate-able) repair area. If the ideal number of drones is 1000 operationally, you just need to figure out how much of a margin of extra reserves you need to keep things operating. But even with a .1% lower capacity, you'd probably not notice an…

Imagine the difference between manually replacing 1 bearing or charging 1 battery and 1000.

The only reason you think it's easy is because you ignore the number and just imagine doing it once anyway.

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