FarmBot backyard gardening droid
Posted by freedomforall 7 years, 9 months ago to Technology
Article from geek.com
http://www.geek.com/news/farmbot-is-t...
Not everyone is blessed with a green thumb, but don’t let that deter you from growing your own vegetables at home. Just enlist a little robotic help and you’ll be fine.
A new creation called (logically enough) FarmBot is ready and willing to help you. The FarmBot itself is like a re-purposed CNC machine. Instead of carving CAD creations out of wood or metal, it tends to raised garden boxes.
There’s a game-like drag-and-drop interface that lets you lay out your garden. It’s sort of like Plants vs. Zombies, only without the sense of impending doom. Once you’ve chosen your plants and arranged them how you want, FarmBot will bust out the tools and get to work.
To stay on top of its chores, FarmBot has a cleverly designed head that it can fit with a number of different tools. When it’s time to plant, it snaps on the seed injector, a needle-like attachment that pokes seeds down to the appropriate depth. The soil tester’s “fangs” let FarmBot keep tabs on moisture levels, and the watering head refreshes parched plants.
Vegetables aren’t the only thing that will grow in well-watered soil, of course. Weeds are bound to spring up, but they’re no problem for FarmBot. A camera attachment lets FarmBot pinpoint the locations of unwanted garden guests and the sinister-looking weed suppressor pounds young weeds into oblivion.
With a FarmBot in your yard (or on your rooftop) you might never have to pay for produce again, and all you have to do is supply the seeds, water, and power, though you can even let nature take care of the last two if you like. It’s not that difficult to hook up solar cells and modify the design so that it draws water from rain barrels.
You can pre-order a FarmBot for $2900. That’s a lot of money, but the company says that you can break even in just five short years based on current produce prices. If you’re down with an intense DIY project, you can build your own FarmBot and save a few bucks. It’s built around a Raspberry Pi and completely open source. You can find everything you need—from the files you need to 3D-print parts to the software that runs the show to the crop info it taps from—on openfarm.cc.
Farmbot website: https://farmbot.io/
http://www.geek.com/news/farmbot-is-t...
Not everyone is blessed with a green thumb, but don’t let that deter you from growing your own vegetables at home. Just enlist a little robotic help and you’ll be fine.
A new creation called (logically enough) FarmBot is ready and willing to help you. The FarmBot itself is like a re-purposed CNC machine. Instead of carving CAD creations out of wood or metal, it tends to raised garden boxes.
There’s a game-like drag-and-drop interface that lets you lay out your garden. It’s sort of like Plants vs. Zombies, only without the sense of impending doom. Once you’ve chosen your plants and arranged them how you want, FarmBot will bust out the tools and get to work.
To stay on top of its chores, FarmBot has a cleverly designed head that it can fit with a number of different tools. When it’s time to plant, it snaps on the seed injector, a needle-like attachment that pokes seeds down to the appropriate depth. The soil tester’s “fangs” let FarmBot keep tabs on moisture levels, and the watering head refreshes parched plants.
Vegetables aren’t the only thing that will grow in well-watered soil, of course. Weeds are bound to spring up, but they’re no problem for FarmBot. A camera attachment lets FarmBot pinpoint the locations of unwanted garden guests and the sinister-looking weed suppressor pounds young weeds into oblivion.
With a FarmBot in your yard (or on your rooftop) you might never have to pay for produce again, and all you have to do is supply the seeds, water, and power, though you can even let nature take care of the last two if you like. It’s not that difficult to hook up solar cells and modify the design so that it draws water from rain barrels.
You can pre-order a FarmBot for $2900. That’s a lot of money, but the company says that you can break even in just five short years based on current produce prices. If you’re down with an intense DIY project, you can build your own FarmBot and save a few bucks. It’s built around a Raspberry Pi and completely open source. You can find everything you need—from the files you need to 3D-print parts to the software that runs the show to the crop info it taps from—on openfarm.cc.
Farmbot website: https://farmbot.io/
SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r0CiLBM1o8
I was thinking of making a 3D printer (deltabot), but this is cooler. No reason you can't make a giant one!
Why is the stock market rigged?
Read The Wall Street Gang by Richard Ney. Its somewhat dated by technology but the scam is still the same.
Part is discussed in theis article:
http://www.rense.com/general27/stt.htm
One of the worst government intrusions are the SBIR and small business set aside. We have lost programs to this nonsense, when we have NEVER missed a delivery and reduced price over the entire program. These ridiculous government intrusions have quotas for small business contract values. It is terrible. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I am not aware of any. Big business is more efficient, until it is not. Bid price tells you this.
I have no knowledge of the programs you are discussing, but don't doubt that government programs also manipulate the market in some ways.
I'm afraid that $2,900 is a bit pricey for us since our 11 year old mini-van just needed a $1,300 fix. However, the repairs not counting regular oil changes, etc. have cost less than $5,000 over 11 years. Lots cheaper than a new one. It's no longer pretty, but then, neither am I.
Seriously, this is another example of where we're headed in places where that $15 minimum wage goes through.
Anyone who has grown super sweet corn varieties in a garden and tasted truly fresh corn will never be satisfied with corporate farm grown corn again.
Night and day difference in quality.
I also think that this product will have to drop in price an order of magnitude to reach the potential market, and I think some version of it will do so. I'd love to see a robotic method of composting for home use, too, even including solid waste. Robots are not repulsed by some jobs that repulse humans, and some of those are areas where a massive productivity improvement is possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CJt4...
Great idea for producing food quietly and in your own space. Maybe combine it with hydroponics too.