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Open Source Farming Robot

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Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#51

Post by d--b »

jasondozell wrote: post #16
d--b wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Growing your own veggies requires an awful lot of time, so barely anybody does it. If this robot allows people with little time to grow vegetables in their backyard, you can argue that they will move closer to soil rather than further...

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.

People don't do it because each hour you spend in your garden is an hour you could have spent doing something else. The problem is not that you have to spend half an hour a day to do it, the problem is that it takes weeks of spending half an hour a day to get anything. And as a beginner, there is a good chance that you're going to screw something up.

A lot of people prefer spending half an hour a day learning italian, or rock climbing, or whatever...

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#52

Post by swiley »

oxymoran wrote: post #48
swiley wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

TBH for my indoor garden watering it by hand is fine (really good for my mental health honestly) I just like the idea of playing with the robot.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#53

Post by manimm »

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…

https://youtu.be/3mrvd0B6DuQ ?

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#54

Post by zajio1am »

foxhop wrote: post #14
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…

Slug lazers ~= small flock of ducks

From what i heard, they usually destroy every green on you garden first and only after that turn to slugs.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#55

Post by mikepurvis »

bobiny wrote: post #38
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…

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

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.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#56

Post by PennRobotics »

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…

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 time. It probably just turns two hours of vegetable gardening per week into one hour of vegetable gardening plus one hour of robot gardening. I believe there are enough people in the world who enjoy gardening their mechatronics for this to have a respectable future, but I agree that it will never compete with any commercial venture

... unless someone invents an OpenCV saffron stigma identifier.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#57

Post by wjaugustyn »

Very cool, but they should market it for what it is -- backyard farming for people that like automation. Large scale farming is pretty damn automated already. We can probably really improve on pesticide use, soil health, pollination etc (things that relate to optimising the ecological interactions between organisms).

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#58

Post by hypertele-Xii »

rytis wrote: post #32
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…

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 :) ?...

Yeah I mean they are [supposed to be] testing anyway, might as well rent out the equipment during the experiment and sell the produce.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#59

Post by lifty »

mikepurvis wrote: post #55
bobiny wrote: post #38

Earlier 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

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.

You will tend the robot instead.

Re: Open Source Farming Robot

#60

Post by sgt »

jasondozell wrote: post #13

No doubt the tech is interesting but conceptually this is pretty awful. Anyone who has done it knows if you have irrigation sorted there is very little needed for seedlings to grow to full size. Even with no irrigation we’re only talking 5mins watering on dry days. Adding all this electronics and metal to an otherwise organic and natural process is environmentally, economically and spiritually detrimental.

I thought the same. Why not just sort out an automated irrigation system, and do the initial seeding manually? Even with a robot there will be manual work like cleaning weeds, pruning, etc.
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