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This is pretty much how I see the future of agriculture. Give the FarmBot a bunch of wheels / robotic feet to move around and it could theoretically handle hu

This is pretty much how I see the future of agriculture. Give the FarmBot a bunch of wheels / robotic feet to move around and it could theoretically handle huge fields. The key thing here is the possibility to monitor each individual plant and react to changes in its development or environment (in contrast to modern industrial agriculture, were things are done with huge monster tractors). I'm sure it can/will be improved to serve more functions - like removing weeds and collecting pests without the need for herbicides or pesticides and so on. Eventually, these will all become software problems which the global programmer community will be more than glad to tackle. The most important thing about FarmBot and similar tech, though, is the potential to de-centralize agriculture again and make small-scale, local agriculture possible, without needing to employ human labor. Not only would this create a new market for high-tech agricultural tools and software and make growing your own food easy (even in the city !), it is a very welcome solution to the many environmental problems that large-scale industrial agriculture generates today. So I'm very optimistic and happy about this tech and I wish you guys all the luck.

rmason 10y ago
Sat watching that video and wondering if you could first lay down a layer of black plastic with holes punched in the right places, it would eliminate 95% of the weeding chores. http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-600ft-Embossed-Growerss-Solution/dp/B00BG9GQ0M http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-600ft-Embossed-Growerss-Soluti... Course it would help if the garden was on a slight incline with holes punched in the frame boards on one end to deal with draining off the occasional two inch rain.
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
  This actually already happens. There's a farm near my house doing it. I believe it's only cost effective for high-value crops, though.
jonathankoren 10y ago
> The key thing here is the possibility to monitor each individual plant and react to changes in its development or environment (in contrast to modern industrial agriculture, were things are done with huge monster tractors). It's called precision farming, and it's done today, with "huge monster tractors". Seriously folks, modern agriculture is an advanced multibillion dollar business which left the 19th century 200 years ago.
- hutzlibu 10y ago
  Erm, the "precision farming" use HUGE fields of monoculture crops and pesticides. Can't see much precision there. With precision you could do small fields with trees and bushes (with fruits) in between and need no pesticides ... all in all, a farm could then be also a nice place just to walk around and enjoy nature. Like some bio-farms are allready today, the problem is just, that the human labour needed to do it is huge - with robots it might be possible to go all bio - and still feed everyone!
  - bsbechtel 10y ago
    Yes, but production and throughput capacity, along with logistics of moving crops from the farm to a storage elevator are things that still need to be considered. Today's most advanced combines can harvest 10,000 bushels of corn per hour...you would need hundreds of robots in a field to even come close to that level of efficiency. One combine also needs about five semi-trailers driving around the clock to get all of the grain out of the field and into a storage elevator without slowing down the whole operation. Letting harvesting robots unload themselves into a truck one at a time would take weeks. There are some big changes that would need to take place to achieve what you are talking about.
    - chongli 10y ago
      Just use a thousand quadcopter drones, each one capable of harvesting a single ear of corn at a time and dropping it off on the elevator. It'd operate like a swarm of giant bees! :)
      - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
        And this is somehow better/cheaper/more efficient than a single large tractor?
    - hutzlibu 10y ago
      > There are some big changes that would need to take place to achieve what you are talking about. No doubt about that. And I am not so naive to believe they will happen soon on a big scale ... but I hope to live long enough to see them come (while having my part in it)
fanquake 10y ago
How big do you mean when you say 'huge fields'? Attending to single plants individually, this would be far to slow to work over a huge area. 'In contrast to modern agriculture, where things are done with huge monster tractors' - You might be interested in what http://www.bluerivert.com/ http://www.bluerivert.com/ are doing. They are essentially attending to every plant individually in smaller cropping areas. Once you actually get to a large area, I.e 1000ha fields, it doesn't make sense to attend to every plant individually throughout the season. We do however have technology to plant each seed down to mm precision, and apply nutrients based on zones created within fields. Also, does it make sense to duplicate all the infrastructure required for one of these, over every single paddock on a farm, when we could have a single, essentially autonomous, machine crop and manage the entire area itself?
- King-Aaron 10y ago
  > How big do you mean when you say 'huge fields'? Attending to single plants individually, this would be far to slow to work over a huge area. not really. You'd run at least one machine per planting line, so you'd be covering a lot of area at once. Plus, these could operate 24 hours a day, which is a real help along side the human workers.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
    Don't forget energy costs...
curiousgal 10y ago
>This is pretty much how I see the future of agriculture. This is how I see it. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140717-japan-largest-indoor-plant-factory-food/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140717-japan...
- banach 10y ago
  Minus the human.
- tomp 10y ago
  How are you going to grow e.g. corn or bananas this way?

rmason 10y ago

Sat watching that video and wondering if you could first lay down a layer of black plastic with holes punched in the right places, it would eliminate 95% of the weeding chores. http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-600ft-Embossed-Growerss-Solution/dp/B00BG9GQ0M http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-600ft-Embossed-Growerss-Soluti... Course it would help if the garden was on a slight incline with holes punched in the frame boards on one end to deal with draining off the occasional two inch rain.

HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
This actually already happens. There's a farm near my house doing it. I believe it's only cost effective for high-value crops, though.

jonathankoren 10y ago

> The key thing here is the possibility to monitor each individual plant and react to changes in its development or environment (in contrast to modern industrial agriculture, were things are done with huge monster tractors). It's called precision farming, and it's done today, with "huge monster tractors". Seriously folks, modern agriculture is an advanced multibillion dollar business which left the 19th century 200 years ago.

hutzlibu 10y ago
Erm, the "precision farming" use HUGE fields of monoculture crops and pesticides. Can't see much precision there. With precision you could do small fields with trees and bushes (with fruits) in between and need no pesticides ... all in all, a farm could then be also a nice place just to walk around and enjoy nature. Like some bio-farms are allready today, the problem is just, that the human labour needed to do it is huge - with robots it might be possible to go all bio - and still feed everyone!
- bsbechtel 10y ago
  Yes, but production and throughput capacity, along with logistics of moving crops from the farm to a storage elevator are things that still need to be considered. Today's most advanced combines can harvest 10,000 bushels of corn per hour...you would need hundreds of robots in a field to even come close to that level of efficiency. One combine also needs about five semi-trailers driving around the clock to get all of the grain out of the field and into a storage elevator without slowing down the whole operation. Letting harvesting robots unload themselves into a truck one at a time would take weeks. There are some big changes that would need to take place to achieve what you are talking about.
  - chongli 10y ago
    Just use a thousand quadcopter drones, each one capable of harvesting a single ear of corn at a time and dropping it off on the elevator. It'd operate like a swarm of giant bees! :)
    - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
      And this is somehow better/cheaper/more efficient than a single large tractor?
  - hutzlibu 10y ago
    > There are some big changes that would need to take place to achieve what you are talking about. No doubt about that. And I am not so naive to believe they will happen soon on a big scale ... but I hope to live long enough to see them come (while having my part in it)

fanquake 10y ago

How big do you mean when you say 'huge fields'? Attending to single plants individually, this would be far to slow to work over a huge area. 'In contrast to modern agriculture, where things are done with huge monster tractors' - You might be interested in what http://www.bluerivert.com/ http://www.bluerivert.com/ are doing. They are essentially attending to every plant individually in smaller cropping areas. Once you actually get to a large area, I.e 1000ha fields, it doesn't make sense to attend to every plant individually throughout the season. We do however have technology to plant each seed down to mm precision, and apply nutrients based on zones created within fields. Also, does it make sense to duplicate all the infrastructure required for one of these, over every single paddock on a farm, when we could have a single, essentially autonomous, machine crop and manage the entire area itself?

King-Aaron 10y ago
> How big do you mean when you say 'huge fields'? Attending to single plants individually, this would be far to slow to work over a huge area. not really. You'd run at least one machine per planting line, so you'd be covering a lot of area at once. Plus, these could operate 24 hours a day, which is a real help along side the human workers.
- HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
  Don't forget energy costs...

curiousgal 10y ago

>This is pretty much how I see the future of agriculture. This is how I see it. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140717-japan-largest-indoor-plant-factory-food/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140717-japan...

banach 10y ago
Minus the human.
tomp 10y ago
How are you going to grow e.g. corn or bananas this way?