My brother showed me this, a couple of years ago.
Cool stuff.
Open Source Farming Robot
161–170 of 236 posts
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's a weird sort of reverse classism I saw in my relatives going up. You might summarize it as 'people without dirt under their nails don't understand shit'. As someone who went through endurance sports, being the fix-it guy, and a CS program I always sort of had one foot in both worlds and didn't really engage in this kind of rhetoric. But as I've been accumulating more woodworking tools and getting a lot of dir…
> This device is going to gum up You say that like this device hasn't been around for years, accumulating revisions, upgrades, and user stories.
Look at the videos. That’s an outdoor laboratory environment.
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some day I hope everyone has a backyard farm to supply at least some of their food. Some of those people will need assistance to do it.
Community gardens.
This! I started bookmarking community gardens in Oakland. There’s quite a few and I hope more space can be allocated for them in the future!
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a fellow backyard raised bed hipster, part of the point for me is going out and tending it. I struggle to see the value in this unless it’s about scaling.
Same - I enjoy working in my garden because it's a break from my office tech job! Robot aside, the UI to plan your planting is pretty great though.
I’m working on a different farming robot. Since my office is at the farm and half of my work is doing something outside with the machine, it’s a pretty idyllic setting for a job!
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a for small hipster raised bed farming in back yard. Maybe it doesn't have to scale to a size of a commercial farm
Slightly off topic, but what is it about raised beds? Why not till and fertilize the soil you already have?
I live in an area which has been urban for ages. The soil, more than a few inches down, is full of toxic chemicals, including but not limited to lead.
Raised bed, you know what you get.
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#166I've built robots. I've built greenhouses. I like software and the occasional bit of farming. Thirs looks cute and fun, and I hope they iterate, but it's not really solving the right problems, and introduces its own. 1 - there are no straight lines on a farm. Maybe in a hydro setup built on concrete slab, in which case, why robot? 2 - needs a way to cover more ground. If it's not able to travel linearly indefinitely…
>I want something half or a quarter of that. Able to scoop 50 lbs of dirt, repeatedly, and dig holes/trenches. https://www.toro.com/en/professional-contractor/compact-util...
I’m designing an open source farming robot (Acorn by Twisted Fields) and I’m looking at doing Charles Dowding’s no-dig farming method. Instead of tillage they drop more compost on top of the beds each season. In that case it would be super helpful for our robot to be able to scoop from a pile of compost and distribute it over the beds. You think there’s a lot of value in that? I’m still mulling it over.
Here’s a nice overview of a no-dig farm: https://youtu.be/u79tiVcj8bY
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#167Oh hey this is my industry (robots in agriculture). I don't like this. It feels way too "Juicero" to me. Too cute, to inconsequential. It feels likely one would spend more time on building and maintaining this thing than work it actually saves and a significant amount the benefit of having a garden is working it with you hands and watching that work grow in fruition. Bots in the farm though, they are the real deal. R…
I’m curious what you think of our approach. Still early but the machine is outside in the fields and even on the shortest day of the year it traveled 20km on solar power.
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I want something half or a quarter of that. Able to scoop 50 lbs of dirt, repeatedly, and dig holes/trenches. https://www.toro.com/en/professional-contractor/compact-util...
I’m designing an open source farming robot (Acorn by Twisted Fields) and I’m looking at doing Charles Dowding’s no-dig farming method. Instead of tillage they drop more compost on top of the beds each season. In that case it would be super helpful for our robot to be able to scoop from a pile of compost and distribute it over the beds. You think there’s a lot of value in that? I’m still mulling it over. Here’s a nice…
Yes. There are plenty of things that need to be spread on farms. I have a friend who made huge piles of bio-char for spreading in his hops field. Hops fields are full of poles supporting the trellis that supports the plants, so there's a lot to dodge. Doing it with the tractor bucket required a lot of manual touch up after. Also, in landscaping and construction, the ability to move soil, mulch, and gravel autonomously would be extremely helpful. Spreading it evenly would be icing on the cake.
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a fellow backyard raised bed hipster, part of the point for me is going out and tending it. I struggle to see the value in this unless it’s about scaling.
As a tech-crazed wanna-be hipster gardener, the value is pretending to do it "better" than the backyard raised bed hipsters. Observe: "Using the manual controls, you can move FarmBot and operate its tools and peripherals in real-time. Scare birds away while at work, take photos of your veggies, turn the lights on for a night time harvest, or simply impress your friends and neighbors with a quick demo. "
Maybe you wouldn't get a garden otherwise if you've got no skill, no experience living on a farm. This way you get to have a garden without know how to do it and without a choir part like watering regularly. Now you can water whenever you feel like it.
Re: Open Source Farming Robot
#170I've built robots. I've built greenhouses. I like software and the occasional bit of farming. Thirs looks cute and fun, and I hope they iterate, but it's not really solving the right problems, and introduces its own. 1 - there are no straight lines on a farm. Maybe in a hydro setup built on concrete slab, in which case, why robot? 2 - needs a way to cover more ground. If it's not able to travel linearly indefinitely…
There's a weird sort of reverse classism I saw in my relatives going up. You might summarize it as 'people without dirt under their nails don't understand shit'. As someone who went through endurance sports, being the fix-it guy, and a CS program I always sort of had one foot in both worlds and didn't really engage in this kind of rhetoric. But as I've been accumulating more woodworking tools and getting a lot of dir…
Directly from article: "And because everything is made from aluminum, stainless steel, and UV resistant ABS, FarmBot will last for years in outdoor environments."