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Open Source Farming Robot

farm.bot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#41

Post by cube2222 »

swiley wrote: post #33
WJW wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it? The current construction severely limits the scale at which it could operate, so it will run out of work to do pretty quickly. That means it'll be idle most of the time. If you have a similar complexity robot but mobile, it could be trucking around a much larger field.

I don't think most people want to turn their yard into a serious farm. This is great for backyard gardens. I'd get a smaller table top version for my apartment.

Yeah, I too wonder how small you can currently get with the smallest Express version they offer.

I'd love to get something like this into my apartment, around 0.5x1 meters in size, and with a refillable water tank.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#44

Post by nickspacek »

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 always thought these folks might be onto something, though I'm not sure how successful the approach has been: https://www.opensourceecology.org/

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#46

Post by jedimastert »

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 think this is geared at personal, specifically small-scale backyard farms.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#47

Post by bobiny »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #23

From the video, I'm puzzled why they would water plants with a robotic nozzle spraying on the plant/leaves. Watering works better the way it does now: run a pipe along the plants and water the soil.

Leaves probably want some moisture too. If you run pipes straight to the stem you'll have to rearrange them each time you changes here individual plants are which is harder to automate.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#48

Post by oxymoran »

swiley wrote: post #33
WJW wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it? The current construction severely limits the scale at which it could operate, so it will run out of work to do pretty quickly. That means it'll be idle most of the time. If you have a similar complexity robot but mobile, it could be trucking around a much larger field.

I don't think most people want to turn their yard into a serious farm. This is great for backyard gardens. I'd get a smaller table top version for my apartment.

No it’s still pretty useless. If you want a legitimate backyard garden, the rain gutter grow system is the way to go. No robot, no electricity, no weeding, automated watering.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#49

Post by jasondozell »

kortex wrote: post #28
jasondozell wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not that true and the robot will hardly help. The reason people don’t do it is that commercial farming is so efficient once you factor in costs growing your own is not cheaper than buying from supermarket.

It's not really about the cost. We are working on a greenhouse with raised beds. Between parts, tools, and piles of topsoil, I think we are $2-3k in (upstate NY). It was never gonna break even. It's a fun project, and it gives you unbelievable freshness and quality. Robot might help in a greenhouse setting but outdoors it's just gonna get mudded up and get fine, abrasive clay dust in everything. Needs to be way more…

Don’t disagree with any of that however all the effort is before the robotics gets involved.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#50

Post by bobiny »

jasondozell wrote: post #22
codingdave wrote: post #3

I wish I could like this idea, but their price is pretty steep for how small of an area they cover. Their ROI page is all about the cost of growing your own veggies vs. store-bought, but that misses the mark(et). Bots like this do not compete with stores, they compete with your own manual labor to DIY. And the labor to grow some veggies (especially in a raised garden box) is not that painful. They would be better ser…

Agree. Long-run, a drone type machine may well become successful (flying around zapping weeds) but this is way over-engineered for what it does.

Drones are fun, but there might be no need to fight weeds so much. They help plants get stronger and kill off weak ones. Farms are overrun with pests and weeds because ecosystem is incomplete and natural cycles are not followed. Some type of permaculture approach like Fukuoka farming could be a more robust alternative to zapping.
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