It’s like when you build a house. When it’s first coming out of the ground, it seems something dramatic is happening every day. That’s the way it was at first with our farming robot. Now things have quieted down, and there are not as many pretty pictures, but we’re making progress nonetheless.
Here’s where things stand as of this afternoon. The cables are in place for the X axis (running the length of the bed), the Y axis (running from side to side), and the Z axis (running vertically up and down). All the cables are safely tucked away in plastic cable carriers that look the tiniest bit like bulldozer tracks.
Next up is to span the gurney (the gizmo that carries all this amazing stuff) and get power simultaneously to the twin x axis motors (one on each side of the gurney). Then we will be mounting a little plastic box that contains the brains of the outfit, a tiny computer called a Raspberry Pi.
We will mount the rack that holds all the tiny tools that FarmBot uses to plant seeds, measure moisture levels, add water, and suppress weeds. And then we will begin to struggle through the seemingly limitless ways things can get messed up on a robotics tool like FarmBot.
Here’s a little video that lets you see how it looks right now.
