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Open Source Farming Robot

farm.bot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#111

Post by weweweoo »

Seems like a cool project, but not something I would pay thousands of dollars for as a hobbyist gardener. By the looks of it, might work for smaller plants, but not much use in growing larger varieties of tomato or cucumber for example.

Really the only thing I would trust and want to automate is watering when I'm away, and that can be done much cheaper. The most burdensome part right now in my greenhouse is actually keeping the large plants in check, prevent them from growing too much by taking away right leaves/branches. The robot probably wouldn't do too much to help with that. Weeds are a problem outside, but that's way too large of an area to cover with this kind of robots.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#112

Post by torlok »

taylorfinley wrote: post #27

I can't help but feel like this is a satirical send up of "tech bros solve farming," except it's not satire. I am a software engineer, I also runs a small family farm. I have 3d printers and laser cutters and lots of aluminum extrusion and raspberry pis... but I keep those things indoors, away from the dirt, sun, and rain. I can't imagine a real farmer using a contraption like this. Tools have to be reliable to last.…

I'm both as well. Imagine all that maintenance of keeping a hobby electronics project outside, all just to remove maybe 5% of the effort of growing vegetables. You can't even grow anything tall with it.

If they have a solid planning software that accounts for crop rotation, companion planting, etc. then that's already a much better value proposition.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#113

Post by Maxion »

torlok wrote: post #106

This is a Juicero of farming. The whole setup is easily replaced with a raised garden bed and a drip hose. Hearing about this a few years back, I was hoping it would at least do some weed control, but no.

It is indeed a juicero of farming. It costs 4 grand for something that can handle a single garden bed. This is not suitable for even small commerical growers, they'd need hundreds of these things.

All commercial growers in my latitude start by sprouting their plants indoors, using e.g. soil blocks. Very little is direct sown.

If you practice no-till, weeding isn't even that big of a task.

This thing definitely does not provide value.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#114

Post by Maxion »

antoniojtorres wrote: post #84

This worries me from a positioning standpoint. I imagine a large amount of people with a garden bed, even a large one, garden because they like it, this would get in the way of that. The device doesn’t appear like it would scale well to anything large enough, and even then it would compete with much more sophisticated solutions that do this. I feel like it’s actual market may end up being pretty narrow, not that it i…

It could be useful in some research, allowing precise control of e.g. watering and automated photography of the plants. But that's about it.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#115

Post by john_minsk »

weweweoo wrote: post #111

Seems like a cool project, but not something I would pay thousands of dollars for as a hobbyist gardener. By the looks of it, might work for smaller plants, but not much use in growing larger varieties of tomato or cucumber for example. Really the only thing I would trust and want to automate is watering when I'm away, and that can be done much cheaper. The most burdensome part right now in my greenhouse is actually…

Interesting. A while ago I heard about a project to use laser with AI to grow salmon and protect from parasites[1]

Would it be a terrible idea to destroy weeds with laser shots? Or crops don't provide enough margin for such advance tech?

1. https://www.stingray.no/delousing-with-laser/?lang=en

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#116

Post by wokwokwok »

taneq wrote: post #64
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #50

The idea of introducing robotics to farming is very attractive. It doesn't seem like this is a scalable solution for farming, but a sufficient one for gardening. They started this project a decade ago. But robotics has advanced quite a bit in that time. Surely, today it is much more viable to have four wheeled robots watering, weeding etc at the same precision this product can. Then why build a gantry.

So that you’re not rolling around on the soil and compacting it, or squashing seedlings?

Come on, there are obvious solutions to this like having lanes, same as farm use for machinery right now. :p

Having a roomba like (yes, obviously different to the standard look of a robot vacuum cleaner; but a small autonomous robot; eg a watering can on tank treads, or a bb8 rolling ball) bot with a docking station out of the weather seems enormously more sustainable and scalable.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#118

Post by constantcrying »

Seems an interesting engineering project, but like a terrible product. Who is the customer? If you like gardening, why would you pay thousands of dollars so that you don't need to do it? If you don't like gardening, you obviously wouldn't be interested in having a robot do it for you.

I just can't imagine who would buy this. Gardening can be done very cheap and I believe that most people do it because they like spending time outside, working with their hands, being involved with the food they eat and saving a bit of money. Why would such a person want to have a robot which does away with that?

On an industrial scale this thing is of course totally useless.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#119

Post by naasking »

constantcrying wrote: post #118

Seems an interesting engineering project, but like a terrible product. Who is the customer? If you like gardening, why would you pay thousands of dollars so that you don't need to do it? If you don't like gardening, you obviously wouldn't be interested in having a robot do it for you. I just can't imagine who would buy this. Gardening can be done very cheap and I believe that most people do it because they like spend…

> If you don't like gardening, you obviously wouldn't be interested in having a robot do it for you

Why? Do people who don't like gardening not like gardens or fresh produce? I just don't see how you reached this conclusion.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#120

Post by ionwake »

getpost wrote: post #30

It sill looks like the software is written by people who don't know how to care for plants. You don't spray water on leaves as shown in the video; you'll just end up with fungus infestation. You water the soil and nourish the microorganisms that facilitate nutrient absorption in roots. But, I don't see any reason the technology can't be adapted to do the right thing.

Reminds me of when I got into electric skateboarding only to realise late in the game every around me had never had a skateboard when they were younger, they were all engineers. This was back in the day when it was only affordable to make your own. Not disrespecting anyone I just found it funny and surprising.
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