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Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

thedrive.com

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Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#121

Post by NegativeLatency »

cogman10 wrote: post #66
whizzkid wrote: post #17

+ Really good idea to make use of the electricity in other ways than just driving. (generators, lamps, etc.) + 10 hours covers up a good day in field. - a lot of farms are away from electricity sources to charge and sometimes internet connection is non-existent. It is risky to leave a 50k machine on its own to do its job. And what to do if battery runs out on the field? - how long does it take to recharge? A lot of f…

> a lot of farms are away from electricity sources to charge In the US? Not true. The vast majority of US farms have power for one simple reason, they irrigate. It'd be far too expensive to irrigate using a gas pump. The exception MIGHT be dry farms, but those aren't as common as you might think. Further, most farms have shops for repairs which almost always have power for lights (and heat sometimes). > And what to d…

Farms might have 3 phase? With welders and machine tools being necessary for mantainence.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#122

Post by calabin »

justinlloyd wrote: post #112

Next up: A semi-autonomous backhoe and dozer that can intelligently dig a level bottomed hole to specific cubic dimensions with equipment accessible ramp and all the waste material piled neatly on the sides in safe and sane manner and then can also load that same material into a waiting dump truck. Can also work in a swarm of two or three machines for more effective material handling. All controlled by a remote opera…

You worked on a project like this? Sounds interesting! Are you able to tell us more, or if it was ever implemented?

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#123

Post by tomjen3 »

zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

I use DDG as my default search engine, but I often have to go to google, because DDG isn't very good. It also doesn't help that searching for a local company will turn up their italian site because DDG doesn't use my location by default. Forget searching for local Danish news at all.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#124

Post by 7952 »

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #67
whizzkid wrote: post #17

+ Really good idea to make use of the electricity in other ways than just driving. (generators, lamps, etc.) + 10 hours covers up a good day in field. - a lot of farms are away from electricity sources to charge and sometimes internet connection is non-existent. It is risky to leave a 50k machine on its own to do its job. And what to do if battery runs out on the field? - how long does it take to recharge? A lot of f…

> - a lot of farms are away from electricity sources to charge It's actually quite common for farms to have 3 phase power at the least. Modern farming is heavily industrialized. There's all sorts of dryers or blowers or other processing equipment to be run depending on the crop or livestock. Renewables, either self owned or leased land access are a big growth thing too. This means you can be in the boonies of western…

Also, farms tend to have three phase HV close by just because that is what is used by the transmission system. And 150v is not suitable for connecting remote properties due to voltage drp from resistance. So there is probably a transformer on a pole close by.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#125

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

justinlloyd wrote: post #112

Next up: A semi-autonomous backhoe and dozer that can intelligently dig a level bottomed hole to specific cubic dimensions with equipment accessible ramp and all the waste material piled neatly on the sides in safe and sane manner and then can also load that same material into a waiting dump truck. Can also work in a swarm of two or three machines for more effective material handling. All controlled by a remote opera…

Sounds like a task out of 'Surviving Mars' (and the kind of tech I expect to see up there for real in a decade or so, if a crewed expedition is ever to actually take place).

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#126

Post by SturgeonsLaw »

somethoughts wrote: post #116
zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

It does seem though that the subscription economy and DRM was invented by Tech Companies and then copied by companies in other sectors. It seems highly likely the Electric Monarch will not be have right to repair support and will probably be acquired by one of the existing companies if the tech works, no?

The embedded promo video specifically mentioned they support the right to repair which was nice to see, and they include the service manual with the tractor for self repair purposes.

Of course, having that at launch is one thing, but future decisions could always be made by the bean counters leading to a locked down platform.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#127

Post by oliwarner »

analog31 wrote: post #78

Granted it's not one of the behemoth's that I see in the Midwest. But I would see a 10 hour run time as a limitation. My friends who raise corn & beans have described their work as being like flying a small plane: Hours of boredom capped off at the ends by a few moments of sheer terror. The opportunities to plant and harvest are dictated by the weather, and when it's good, they want to be running their machines aroun…

It's only a limitation if you run one machine. These are cheap and employee-less. You just run a gang of them around the clock.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#128

Post by aaron695 »

zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

> AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it.

> Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins.

There's trillions to be made before AI is needed. There's no AI problem

AI isn't magic beans, it's only sold that way. AI will have DRM. Can you use GPT-3?

John Deere can at any time remove the DRM so not sure why they will get nails in their coffins. They have the lead and can pivot at any time. If DRM is a killer...

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#129

Post by cgriswald »

tomjen3 wrote: post #123
zaroth wrote: post #11

Once John Deere starting DRM’ing their tractors it just screams entrenched monopoly. But where’s the barrier to entry? AI is going to dramatically alter this competitive landscape and John Deere’s DRM is not going to to stop it. Honestly, I love watching these companies drive nails into their own coffins. I was on the Google homepage today on my iPhone and was getting popups advertising Chrome (on the homepage!) and…

I use DDG as my default search engine, but I often have to go to google, because DDG isn't very good. It also doesn't help that searching for a local company will turn up their italian site because DDG doesn't use my location by default. Forget searching for local Danish news at all.

These threads have convinced me that how a person uses search is the biggest factor in whether they find DDG useful. By that I mean what type of things they search, how they craft their queries, and what they intend to do with the results.

Re: Electric Monarch tractor can plow a field without a driver and run for ten hours

#130

Post by opinion-is-bad »

Animats wrote: post #100
opinion-is-bad wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Between 1970 and 2013, the % of Americans working in agriculture dropped from 4.4 to 1.5. I’d say we have continued to make excellent progress, it’s just not as sexy as robot fruit pickers.

Yes. Almost everything in farming of major crops has been mechanized for years, if not decades. Fruit picking is still a problem, but it's slowly being cracked. In the more advanced countries, cow milking and meat cutting is done by robots. The US is starting to catch up.[1] Advanced technology from New Zealand is finally reaching the US. The countries that don't have a supply of low-wage illegal immigrants are ahead…

Our farm purchased several New Zealand asparagus sorting machines back in the 90s and they were quite excellent. They would size the spears by laser, and could do color analysis as well. There was still a significant manual component, but half the workers could manage the same throughput. Sadly we no longer use these machines, as there is no market for growing asparagus in the US these days. Labor costs have caused all the acreage to move into Mexico.

I’m not sure I’d agree the US is overall behind in automation compared to other countries, but I think we probably do have automation in different places. Farm labor is certainly not cheap in California. Our blueberry pickers averaged about $23 an hour this year. I admit I have no context for what would be an acceptable rate in New Zealand or Europe, but I can’t imagine it’s much more than that.

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