3 ms·

From the product web site: Will Tertill get stuck? Tertill uses four-wheel-drive. This helps Tertill move through soft soil, sand, and mulch, and also helps T

From the product web site: Will Tertill get stuck? Tertill uses four-wheel-drive. This helps Tertill move through soft soil, sand, and mulch, and also helps Tertill climb slopes. Its distinctive diagonal wheels make Tertill more stable on slopes and help it get past certain terrain challenges. Tertill relies on several sensors and clever programming to keep out of trouble. To detect objects like the garden fence and big plants, Tertill uses sensors similar to those found in many smart phones—the lightest touch is all it takes. To detect steep slopes, Tertill uses the same sort of sensor that tells your cell phone which way is up. Tertill can also sense if a motor stops turning—perhaps jammed by a rock—so it can protect itself from damage.

bluedino 8y ago
You'd think it woudl use tank tracks
- pugworthy 8y ago
  Would get all gummed up with mud. But that's true of about any type of locomotion. Overall, this seems very much designed for ideal environments - smooth, relatively dry, etc.
- cr0sh 8y ago
  Tank tracks have problems at a small scale that aren't immediately apparent at full scale. The big one - especially for something "in the dirt" - is dirt/mud getting between the tracks and ground wheels/idlers. This can easily stop the drive system, requiring user maintenance. Then there's the issue with water rusting parts (shafts, screws, etc). Also, more moving parts equal more things to break. Finally, on a small scale, tracks have a tendency to be easily "thrown" from the wheels depending on how turning is accomplished and the terrain. On a full sized tank or bulldozer, tracks still have these issues, but in the case of dirt, it can just power through the obstacles; dirt and mud may build up, and cause some rust, but the important bits are kept constantly lubricated. Any parts that do grind up the dirt just wear down instead of stopping (and eventually need replacement - very $$$$ replacement). If anyone cares to, hosing off the tracks with a water truck can also be done, but isn't likely to be done. Again, it all comes down to maintenance. Also, full scale tracked vehicles rarely turn "en point", because their tracks can be thrown just as easily as on the smaller scale, but cause more damage and more repair $$$ needed to fix/replace (plus doing it in the field isn't easy, either). The proper way to turn such a vehicle is to not perform such maneuvers, or if you have to, make sure you're on relatively flat and soft ground (that you don't mind utterly destroying - beware your wife's rose garden), and do it fairly slowly. The side load on the tracks and idlers will still be just as high, but throwing the track isn't as great. Usually, though, you steer in a curve just like a car, except using differential speeds on each track. There will still be side loads and "skidding", but the loads are much, much less (also, this is why such machines, whether tracked or wheeled, are known as "skid steered" or "differential steering").
  - turk73 8y ago
    The whole thing is a "nice try" but spending money on something like this isn't green--we're supposed to be consuming less overall and this hunk of plastic will break within six months and then sit on a shelf until it inevitably enters the waste stream as difficult to recycle e-trash. When are people going to wake up and figure out that all this speculative entrepreneurial-ism is pretty much just money making scams that exist as the cost of the environment? Don't want weeds? Be a gardener. Or don't be a gardener: This whole dilettante Instagram gardener bullshit is what needs to die.

bluedino 8y ago

You'd think it woudl use tank tracks

pugworthy 8y ago
Would get all gummed up with mud. But that's true of about any type of locomotion. Overall, this seems very much designed for ideal environments - smooth, relatively dry, etc.
cr0sh 8y ago
Tank tracks have problems at a small scale that aren't immediately apparent at full scale. The big one - especially for something "in the dirt" - is dirt/mud getting between the tracks and ground wheels/idlers. This can easily stop the drive system, requiring user maintenance. Then there's the issue with water rusting parts (shafts, screws, etc). Also, more moving parts equal more things to break. Finally, on a small scale, tracks have a tendency to be easily "thrown" from the wheels depending on how turning is accomplished and the terrain. On a full sized tank or bulldozer, tracks still have these issues, but in the case of dirt, it can just power through the obstacles; dirt and mud may build up, and cause some rust, but the important bits are kept constantly lubricated. Any parts that do grind up the dirt just wear down instead of stopping (and eventually need replacement - very $$$$ replacement). If anyone cares to, hosing off the tracks with a water truck can also be done, but isn't likely to be done. Again, it all comes down to maintenance. Also, full scale tracked vehicles rarely turn "en point", because their tracks can be thrown just as easily as on the smaller scale, but cause more damage and more repair $$$ needed to fix/replace (plus doing it in the field isn't easy, either). The proper way to turn such a vehicle is to not perform such maneuvers, or if you have to, make sure you're on relatively flat and soft ground (that you don't mind utterly destroying - beware your wife's rose garden), and do it fairly slowly. The side load on the tracks and idlers will still be just as high, but throwing the track isn't as great. Usually, though, you steer in a curve just like a car, except using differential speeds on each track. There will still be side loads and "skidding", but the loads are much, much less (also, this is why such machines, whether tracked or wheeled, are known as "skid steered" or "differential steering").
- turk73 8y ago
  The whole thing is a "nice try" but spending money on something like this isn't green--we're supposed to be consuming less overall and this hunk of plastic will break within six months and then sit on a shelf until it inevitably enters the waste stream as difficult to recycle e-trash. When are people going to wake up and figure out that all this speculative entrepreneurial-ism is pretty much just money making scams that exist as the cost of the environment? Don't want weeds? Be a gardener. Or don't be a gardener: This whole dilettante Instagram gardener bullshit is what needs to die.