Author: Lee Borden

The Latest Progress on FarmBot

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.

Great and Tiny Progress on Farmbot

Friday was a day when Rhona Watson’s husband John and I made good progress on lots of tiny things. We were working with the components that make Farmbot a sophisticated precision farming machine.

I spent WAY too much time figuring out how to download and install the software that Farmbot needs to run its little Raspberry Pi 3 computer. While I was muttering in the corner in frustration, John mounted in their protective plastic box the computer, its little controller, and the shield that protects the controller.

We also put together the “Universal Tool Mount,” the little tin-can implement that alternately picks up to use and then puts down the seeder, the waterer, the soil sensor, and the weeder. Think wires. Tiny wires. Lots and lots of tiny wires. Secured to their mounting posts with, get this, tiny zip ties! Not the way this old man would have designed it, but what do I know?

Each of those implements needs little nubbins, knobs, and noodles to work, and we also put several of those tiny components together.

All in all a good day. Just no pretty pictures to share with you.

Lee Borden

Judy May on Repotting an Orchid

Judy May is one of CAMGA’s great teachers. Lean forward in your chair when you watch her demonstrate in our latest Stubborn Old Gardeners video how to repot an orchid. As with all our Stubborn Old Gardeners videos, you can rely on the accuracy of the captions!

Progress on Farmbot

Rhona Watson, her husband John, and I spent most of the day at Extension today. At the end of this, the second day of work assembling Farmbot, I’m thrilled at the progress we have made so far.

We adjusted the tracks, rollers, belts, and motor so the end-to-end motion (that’s the x axis for all of you who speak robot) is nice and smooth.

We attached the cross beam and its supporting columns to those rollers. Farmbot rides from side to side over the bed (that’s the y axis) on the cross beam. Another motor and belt.

And we also attached to the cross beam the screw drive and motor that raise and lower Farmbot in relation to the bed (you guessed it – that’s the z axis).

Nearly finished, you say? Well, not really. The next step gets very important, very tedious, and let’s just say it, hard. We’re about to begin installing and connecting all the tubes, wires, and cables that translate our direction – as in go plant these seeds – into all the movements needed to respond to that direction. Along the way, we’ll be connecting and installing a computer and what look to be about 146 separate circuit boards.

We spent several minutes today looking for a camera before figuring out that it looks like this, and is about an inch and a half long.

We’ve adjourned so we can all research the many steps that make up the important work that lies ahead. We’re hoping to reconvene on Good Friday to continue.

Lee Borden

First Day’s Farmbot Assembly Work

Rhona Watson, Katrina Mitchell, and I spent our first day on Monday unpacking Farmbot and beginning the assembly process. We have arranged the components on a tarp in the livestock pavilion so we can work in the shade as much as possible.

We were surprised by how small some of the components were and how much assembly goes into each step. There are more pics to come, but here are two. The first shows a wide shot of the tracks installed on the raised bed (which proved to be ROCK SOLID level at every point – many thanks to Johan Beumer and his magnificent crew for their yoeman work!). The second shows a closer shot of Rhona finishing the installation of the horizontal cable supports that carry the electronics on the side as Farmbot advances and retreats from its home position.

Lee Borden

Gulp! Farmbot has arrived

Okay, it’s here. Just understand that “here” doesn’t mean there’s planting going on. It means there are two surprisingly small boxes in the Extension office awaiting our opening, unpacking, arranging, and putting everything together. As Amanda Borden wryly observed, “some assembly required.”

In the coming days, your Farmbot team will begin their careful work. We’ll keep you posted!