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How could a robot keep more than a couple of acres weeded? Small amounts of acreage in real food would be more valuable to humans than vast tracts of frankenfoo
by jessaustin 6y ago
How could a robot keep more than a couple of acres weeded? Small amounts of acreage in real food would be more valuable to humans than vast tracts of frankenfood like Monsanto soybeans. There are already "at-scale" solutions for that crap: just spray it (and everything downwind!) with tons of noxious chemicals.
- jelliclesfarm 6y agoSmall robots swarmed.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoThe other commenter is correct - swarms. Also our robot is capable of spraying but will primarily use mechanical means to destroy weeds so there is no chemical use.
- jessaustin 6y agoAbove you said "it feels like we need to target farms that are hundreds or thousands of acres to justify the engineering investment." That seems like a reason not to fund your startup, because farms like that already have chemical weed control and giant corporations that already zealously own their souls. I was trying to encourage you to think smaller. By acre, vegetables are much more valuable than wheat and corn and beans, and there are human labor inputs that robots could replace.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoThe farms we’re looking to target are vegetable farms. They use human labor to weed their crops. The few I’ve spoken to have hundreds or thousands of acres total. They seem eager to get a robot like ours.
- jessaustin 6y agoHaha I might have misread an "or" as an "of". Your robots sound great, a real benefit to humanity.
- TaylorAlexander 6y agoAhh yes hundreds “of” thousands would be huge! Long term, I’d love to automate the entire process. We just have to start somewhere. Weeding seems like a safe place to start, and there’s plenty more work to be found once we get our foot in the door. I’ll tell ya one thing - I love working with robots outside. I mostly work in the office but I love getting out to test the machine. :)