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Open Source Farming Robot

farm.bot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#181

Post by gpm »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #175
gpm wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're on a forum filled with bored software engineers, posting details right here is a pretty good idea ;) If contract work isn't against the rules for them (not sure), and the job is otherwise reasonable (feasible, not too open ended, not throwing up giant red flags) I bet he would get some bites by posting to the monthly "who is hiring" threads too. Depending on the details of the request I might be willing to do…

Okay, great. I just emailed him to find out if he hired someone. If he hasn't if there a way to private message on here? I can forward your contact info to him.

My email is in my profile (i.e. click on my username).

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#182

Post by antsar »

hinkley wrote: post #137
kortex wrote: post #34

I'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…

> This will be like a pet turtle you have to keep flipping right side up, not like a roomba.

Having recently bought (and returned) the flagship Roomba, I struggle to see the difference between those two.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#183

Post by dukeofdoom »

gpm wrote: post #181
dukeofdoom wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, great. I just emailed him to find out if he hired someone. If he hasn't if there a way to private message on here? I can forward your contact info to him.

My email is in my profile (i.e. click on my username).

great, thank you. I forwarded him your contact info.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#184

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #98

I had a friend reach out to me, because his dad is a farmer and needed a programmer to work on his tractors, or something like that. I gave him some suggestions such as posting upwork, and fverr. I would hate to be in his position. I don't see anyone with the required electrical engineering background, willing to work on a one off project for a farmer. As far as I know, he did not find anyone.

I get that.

I do this kind of small consulting (firmware/hardware design & integration, etc.) on the side from my day job. I find that the biggest problem is discovery. There are many individuals and small businesses out there that need simple control systems built, but the only firms they can find are the ones with lots of marketing but they're too big to care about a 20-hour project.

If your friend still has this need, my contact info is in my profile. I'm in the US and happy to help.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#185

Post by deeviant »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #167
deeviant wrote: post #133

Oh 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. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27634450

I think that looks a lot more like the right direction.

I would say that the precision part of Ag robotics is the most important part and the success of this project is likely going to be resting on that entirely.

It boils down to something like:

1. Can you sense and classify (i.e. Deep learning based vision)

2. After that, can you turn a pixel into field coordinates. (Pose-> gps/encoder/imu/etc)

3. Can you act accurately/quick/effectively enough (kill/treat mechanism, electromechnical design)

Then it's can you do it reliably enough. Then it's can you do it fast enough. Then its can you do it cost effectively enough.

Farmers won't mess with anything not reliable. They generally aren't interested in anything with worse performance than existing processes, even if greener/cheaper (unless they are significantly so). They most especially will not mess with anything that doesn't generate value in their eyes and they are very good at understanding what generates value and what doesn't.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#186

Post by deeviant »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #145
deeviant wrote: post #133

Oh 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…

If you're willing to share, I'd be interested in knowing who you work for...

I work for Blue River Technology, now fully owned by John Deere.

Obligatory: Any opinions I express on HN are my own and not representative of my employer.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#187

Post by lxe »

This is a cool concept, and probably can be applied to some sort of specific farm design, but I kinda feel like there's a better way to implement some parts of this.

Drip irrigation for watering and fertilizing comes to mind, which really is a better solution and prevents the need to water directly onto the leaves of the plant, which is a huge no-no to a lot of plants.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#188

Post by skrebbel »

kortex wrote: post #34

I'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…

> 1 - there are no straight lines on a farm.

I'm not sure what you mean, to me this sounds like "everybody knows that birds can't fly". But I might just be totally misunderstanding you.

Do you mean "there are no straight lines on farms near where I live"? Cause, well, half my relatives are farmers and their farms are very much made up of straight lines.

For context, here's a google image search for Dutch potato fields: https://www.google.com/search?q=aardappelveld&source=lnms&tb...

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#190

Post by mikepurvis »

bobiny wrote: post #172
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

My dream is to make gardens under geodesic domes. In UK there is Eden project with 2 domes: one has mediterranean climate and another tropical. Imagine being able to grow mangoes and pineapples almost anywhere (it maybe too expensive in some climates, but maybe just growing strawberries there would be nice). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWr67v620kY

I'd love to figure out how to do this in such a way that some or all of the warmth for them could come from waste-heat sources. Seems like such a waste to build a dome for growing local food and then have to heat it through the night with conventional fuels.
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