4 ms·
I really wish they'd make tree planting robots
by reizorc 6y ago
I really wish they'd make tree planting robots
- suby 6y agoI have to imagine that blanketing an area with seeds dropped from a flying drone would be far more effective than a ground based robot which planted trees. Obviously the success rate of a ground based robot would be far higher, but I think we'd be better off going for quantity over quality. If that assumption is true, then we already have the tech to do this.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoI recall when HN was discussing dropping seeds from an AC-130 few years ago, someone pointed out that it would be much more cost-effective to just hire locals to do it by hand. The same will probably apply to drone-planters.
- toyg 6y agoNot even "locals" - depending on location, you could bus in (or even fly in) masses of low-paid low-skill workers from somewhere else, like it happens for other agri tasks.
- RandallBrown 6y agoThere are a few startups working on this. DroneSeed is the one I'm most familiar with.
- jbob2000 6y agoTrees plant themselves, they've been doing it for millions of years! What we need is an anti-deforesting robot.
- webmaven 6y ago> Trees plant themselves, they've been doing it for millions of years! What we need is an anti-deforesting robot. Do you mean a robot to guard the forest from loggers, or something else?
- jbob2000 6y agoIt was tongue-in-cheek. Because if we'd be allowed to deploy a robot to stop loggers, then we'd also be allowed to just not let the loggers log. The problem is humans are taking over nature. Planting a couple of trees here and there is pointless if you're going to cut them down again for real estate or farm developments.
- peteradio 6y agoWe have tractors already optimized for such things. You want 10000 trees planted in an hour? You had that tech about 60 years ago!
- postingawayonhn 6y agoDepends on the terrain. A lot of forestry land is on hillsides that are unsuitable for farming and are therefore difficult for tractors to access.