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Open Source Farming Robot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#221

Post by ratsforhorses »

dhicks6345789 wrote: post #61
taylorfinley wrote: post #10

I know cnc and farming, and I really don't see this product surviving. I can't find a shovel that lasts more than a few months on my small farm, I don't know how a big 3d printer is going to cut it in anything like real agricultural conditions. I would love to be wrong though, garden robots would be great, especially if they had lasers for slugs. Actually, forget the rest of the robot, all I really want is a slug las…

> all I really want is a slug laser Even better: a slug-hunting robot powered by fermented slugs: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~eli/tmp/slugbot.html The project is from circa-2000, I remember being impressed by the idea at the time, and I'd have thought slug-hunting robots would be more of a common thing by now - turns out robotics for agriculture are hard.

I use cabbage plants strategically placed, left to go to seed, all the snails hit onme them so you either watch or pick em up and throw them on the compost (or in the pond for the fish?) I heard comfrey leaves can serve the same purpose...

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#222

Post by daddylongstroke »

mkr-hn wrote: post #126
mikepurvis wrote: post #55

Earlier 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.

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.

You've described most of Eastern Europe for most of the last 100 years and many parts of Asia. I came from a Polish city of 100,000, and everybody I knew (who didn't completely surround themselves by concrete) grew at least some type of fruits and vegetables in their yards, no matter the size. We knew the next big disturbance is just around the corner. Outside of vegetables and fruits directly planted in our yards, we also raised pork, and at different times, chicken, turkey, ducks. Our neighbours raised rabbits. Most people "leased" a small plot on the outskirts of the city (in our case for strawberries). Community gardens were everywhere. Now, things are slowly starting to change to mimick the West. People are even starting to grow lawns for some reason. Sad state of affairs. It seems humans believe that progress means you outsource all of the labor to somebody or something else. In my opinion, the labor itself, is the lesson. The folks that need assistance in their gardens would generally get it from family, friends, and neighbours.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#223

Post by daddylongstroke »

clifdweller wrote: post #192
spelunker wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 thought the same thing. I could care less about the robot but a good garden planning app would be nice and let you track when you water, plant, harvest/ yield of crop from year to year

An app can't tell you that. You need to get out and observe every day. That's the fun of growing plants and raising animals.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#224

Post by daddylongstroke »

afrodc_ wrote: post #202
gbrown wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It disrupts the fungal life and dries it out, while also increasing erosion and weed pressure. It’s not that you can’t ever till, but it’s generally to be avoided. In the case of clay, deep mulch will do wonders, and the earthworms will gently improve the soil over time.

I'm not sure if you know, but is there a way to promote earthworms in my soil? It's pretty compacted after the build and apparently they don't like that, so I'm trying to aerate and let my grass grow longer to break up what it can before I trim and let the roots die. For the garden I'm also planning on planting plants with deep roots, like sunflowers, to improve the soil.

Yes. As someone growing and raising between 60 and 100% (depending on year) of my family's food on a run-through clay and hardpan soil (150 years of cotton and tobacco did it), I can definitely say that you can turn compacted and dead clay around. Like the parent said - deep mulch is one way. In my case, leaves, grass clippings, forest duff, soiled animal bedding, etc. Really anything organic. You effectively want to "build" the topsoil, which will over time (4-7 years depending on what you're starting with) create enough organic matter to entice insects, earthworms, fungal growth (critical to soil health), voles and moles. All of these creatures will aerate the soil for you. No work required. If you want to do a test, throw a tarp down (or some other large covering) over an area, and check back on it in a week or two. You should have some moles already going to work on aerating your soil, and in turn, you should see at least some earthworm activity.

Also, don't forget the weeds. Almost all of the plants humans label as weeds, have very deep sub-soil penetrating roots (most are also more nutritious than the stuff we've bred for us or other animals to eat). If you want to rebuild your soil, let the weeds grow and then either use them for compost which you'll later top-dress your soil with, or just chop them and leave them be for the cover crop effect, or work them in slightly, up to you.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#225

Post by daddylongstroke »

musingsole wrote: post #119
PennRobotics wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This project has been around nearly ten years. They've sold hundreds (or possibly thousands) and raised well over a million dollars. Looking through their forum, I'd guess they continually identify faulty parts (O-rings, moisture sensor, belt alignment) and improve these in successive designs. They make effective suggestions for maintenance and replacement of parts. I do believe this won't necessarily save someone ti…

Everyone's always bitter how technology's stepping stones fit into particular niches and manage to eek by -- providing inspiration for better systems to come when there is a proper problem and ecosystem to support them isn't enough for these types. It's like questioning the purpose and validity of the moonshot.

Well, "these types" have lived long enough to recognize that the solution proposed is itself a part of the problem. We need less robotics and hands off farming for healthy nutritious and sustainable food production, not more.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#226

Post by daddylongstroke »

bluGill wrote: post #150
bserge wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha. But actually, if most people weren't so averse to biological organisms, perhaps we would've had computer controlled ducks, rats, hens and other small animals by now. Why bother reinventing the whole thing when you could just replace (part of) their brains. Experimentation would be pretty gruesome though.

The problem is e-coli (and a few similar things). Animal poop is full of it, and we don't want that in our food supply. Machines don't leave e-coli behind to contaminate our food like biological organisms do. (hint wash your fresh food!)

Hmmmm. Let me start by saying that I've been eating unwashed fresh food (plant and animal both) since I was crawling (as have most of my friends and family members) without any incidence of health issues. In fact, one of the things I couldn't understand after I moved from Poland to the US, is how come all of the American kids have routine gut and intestinal issues. Specifically, what is a "stomach flu" that these kids keep talking about?

I've brought near-dead piglets seemingly back to good health by giving them a spoonful of rich compost, almost certain to be teaming with e-coli among all sorts of other microbes considered to be pathogenic.

>Animal poop is full of it, and we don't want that in our food supply.

Animal poop is already in our commercial food supply, especially vegetables as you alluded to. Hell, quite a lot of rat and mice meat is allowed in our commercial meats here in the US.

>Machines don't leave e-coli behind to contaminate our food like biological organisms do.

No, instead machines leave behind oil, gas, coolant residues to contaminate our food and soils.

E-coli is only a problem if you don't embed yourself and your gut with as many other strains of various microbes as you possibly can. If you're HIV positive or immunocompromised, then for sure, wash your fresh food and everything else you ingest, for everybody else, don't worry about e-coli.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#227

Post by gbrown »

afrodc_ wrote: post #208
bluGill wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where do you live? Earthworms are not native everywhere and they can be a harmful invasive species if introduced to the wrong place. If you have a new house, developments are horible, just enough soil to grow grass. You might be stuck buying good compost and soil and tilling that in deep, then letting grass grow for a few years before trying anything more.

Seems to be the case I'll have to play the long game. They bring in this disgusting but shapeable soil to surround the foundation out here in central Texas. I remember growing up finding earthworms and fishing all the time, so they should be native.

> should be native.

The word you’re looking for is “naturalized”. Not native, but they’re already there, so...

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#228

Post by snypher »

34679 wrote: post #109
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…

>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...

This is $6-8k used and probably out of scope.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#229

Post by snypher »

rahimiali wrote: post #114
rytis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a crazy idea - they say you can do farming from anywhere using their app. So... What about Farming-as-a-Service. You assign users small patches, where they can do whatever they like, and how they like it, and any surviving vegetables are shipped to them. Sounds silly, and is mostly for lolz, may not be sustainable either, but who knows :) ?...

Clever idea. How do I get my harvest once it’s ready? Does someone have to harvest the plants for me and mail them to me?

You could probably get a carrot token credit that you could exchange with a more local carrot supplier.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#230

Post by 34679 »

snypher wrote: post #228
34679 wrote: post #109

Earlier 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...

This is $6-8k used and probably out of scope.

All of his numbers are way low, though. Good luck finding a running tractor for $500-$800, and used loaders are $10-$15k, not $2-$3k. $2k will get you a new set of loader tires.
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