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Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

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Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#91

Post by TaylorAlexander »

tw1010 wrote: post #59
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #29

If anyone is in to this I write speculative fiction about this kind of thing: http://tlalexander.com/sanctuary/ (I also build robots) :)

Any tips for people who want to start writing speculative fiction (or just short stories), other than to just practice a lot?

I think my best tip is both to read (for amusement, education, and inspiration) and to write (as in - just do it, and if you're stuck silence your inner critic and just DO IT).

I'm just some engineer. But I'm a really imaginative and passionate person and I have a lot of ideas I care about. And so I write about those. I was inspired by reading The Martian, which was an amazing book written by a Software Engineer. It was after reading The Martian that I began writing.

Have you tried writing? What has been your blocker?

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#92

Post by rasz »

joncp wrote: post #15
thomas_howland wrote: post #4

The amount of labor involved in grain crops like barley per dollar of output is minimal already - the guy running the tractor/combine/etc is mostly making sure nothing breaks and keeping an eye on things (which is important when you're operating $N00,000 worth of heavy equipment on open ground). You do need guys, however, for when things do go wrong, and for all the other farm tasks (equipment maintenance, fencing, m…

Imagine, though, a time when the automation reaches a stage where all weeding and most insect killing can be done mechanically with a robot instead of chemically with pesticides. That will be a huge boon for the environment and for farmers' bottom lines.

What farmers? there wont be any farmers left, just mega corporations.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#93

Post by prawn »

Alex3917 wrote: post #53
thomas_howland wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hand-harvestable-only crops like lettuce and tomatoes. Basically the CA Central Valley.

Interesting. Between farm labor automation and self-driving cars, do you foresee a point where it's cost effective to give certain foods away for free and monetize via advertising? Even if it's slightly offbeat stuff like dandelion greens and seaweed or whatever?

If anyone wants to eat thistles, I'll give those away... Oxalis too.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#94

Post by KGIII »

Alex3917 wrote: post #38
thomas_howland wrote: post #4

The amount of labor involved in grain crops like barley per dollar of output is minimal already - the guy running the tractor/combine/etc is mostly making sure nothing breaks and keeping an eye on things (which is important when you're operating $N00,000 worth of heavy equipment on open ground). You do need guys, however, for when things do go wrong, and for all the other farm tasks (equipment maintenance, fencing, m…

> The amount of labor involved in grain crops like barley per dollar of output is minimal already What crops have the highest labor costs, in both absolute dollars and as a percentage of what the consumer pays?

Blueberry costs are about 50% labor.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#95

Post by Tade0 »

> Moonshots like this are understandably expensive, though, and since a huge chunk of that money went to capital costs (like buying a tractor and a harvester), the next crop will be vastly cheaper.

They would get a more accurate number if they calculated how much these machines depreciated over that period instead of just throwing in their total cost.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#96

Post by justonepost »

Tade0 wrote: post #95

> Moonshots like this are understandably expensive, though, and since a huge chunk of that money went to capital costs (like buying a tractor and a harvester), the next crop will be vastly cheaper. They would get a more accurate number if they calculated how much these machines depreciated over that period instead of just throwing in their total cost.

Not really, they should theoretically handle a lot more than a hectare with these things.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#97

Post by teekert »

justonepost wrote: post #96
Tade0 wrote: post #95

> Moonshots like this are understandably expensive, though, and since a huge chunk of that money went to capital costs (like buying a tractor and a harvester), the next crop will be vastly cheaper. They would get a more accurate number if they calculated how much these machines depreciated over that period instead of just throwing in their total cost.

Not really, they should theoretically handle a lot more than a hectare with these things.

And over time you don't need machines that accommodate humans anymore making them even cheaper to produce. This is the future.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#98

Post by camillomiller »

I have an acquaintance who works for a huge manufacturer of agricultural machinery. His stories about adventurous technicians who have to parachute into remote Australian farm lands to repair a stuck self-driving combine are always nice to hear.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#99

Post by kuschku »

randomdata wrote: post #44
maxerickson wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It only has to be cheap enough to make banning various pesticides reasonable.

You bring up a good point that I forgot about. Some of these chemicals, like Roundup, are not just for pest control, but serve other purposes such as desiccation. Since you are going to need a chemical applicator anyway, a second machine to duplicate functionality further increases the cost ineffectiveness. Not only that, but what I am sure most would consider the most devastating type of chemical in recent times, ne…

The robots don’t have to necessarily compete with traditional farming.

They just have to make Naturland/Bioland/Demeter style organic farming (which except for very rare cases not even allow any chemical pesticides or herbicides) cheap enough that it becomes competitive.

Re: Autonomous Robots Plant, Tend, and Harvest Entire Crop of Barley

#100

Post by reachtarunhere »

robotresearcher wrote: post #47
joncp wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine, though, a time when the automation reaches a stage where all weeding and most insect killing can be done mechanically with a robot instead of chemically with pesticides. That will be a huge boon for the environment and for farmers' bottom lines.

Peter Corke and his huge team at QUT are doing great stuff in this area. They have spot-spraying robots, that zap only weeds and fertilize only crops, and also a great device that just mechanically smashes up weeds one-by-one. Peter has an admirable ability to choose projects and deliver the goods on them. Robotics needs more like him. Interview with Corke on this subject: http://robohub.org/robots-zero-tillage-robot…

Peter Corke is an amazing guy. Loved his MOOC. Highly recommended if you are just curious about robotics. MATLAB is a sad aspect of it though.
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