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It does seem like that, doesn't it? And there's a lot of money and potential for social good in agriculture. Makes you wonder why there aren't already loads of
by leggomylibro 7y ago
It does seem like that, doesn't it? And there's a lot of money and potential for social good in agriculture.
Makes you wonder why there aren't already loads of commercial solutions like this, especially since self-driving cars are right around the corner.
I guess it could be because (iirc) there are products that already fill the niche, like combines that can navigate along GPS waypoints. But I bet it is also extremely difficult to get the last couple of 9s that you need for commercially-viable accuracy and precision in an ML model, even with ideal conditions.
- dehrmann 7y ago> combines that can navigate along GPS waypoints The easy things to mechanize and automate have already been done. > I bet it is also extremely difficult to get the last couple of 9s that you need for commercially-viable accuracy and precision in an ML model, even with ideal conditions. With how much food never makes it to people, I bet 95% would be good enough for a lettuce picking robot. The problem is it's $50,000-$500,000, while the humans are $8 per hour.
- IanCal 7y ago> The problem is it's $50,000-$500,000, while the humans are $8 per hour. It depends how active you can keep it. £500k financed over say 10 years at 5% is about £5k/mo, a 25y+ human in the UK working 40h workweeks costs about £1600/mo (bare minimum, assumes no overheads or illnesses just the legal minimum + taxes/etc).
- dehrmann 7y agoAnother thing to consider is specialization and seasonality. If the robot is over-specialized in something seasonal, it'll sit idle most of the year. Laborers, on the other hand, move from farm to farm and crop to crop.