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This idea is pretty much as the title suggests. It all
started with an idea I got from watching Wall-E
where
a lot of little robots were left to clean-up the Earth
by
compacting garbage into cubes, but really how does
that help? What you really need is a little robot that
would go around
and plant trees, pull weeds, water
plants, etc.
What if, like the rich back in Victorian times, you
had a
piece of land in the country that just existed to
grow
food for you. Do low maintenance stuff like nut and
fruit trees, hazelnut bushes and some free range
chickens in chicken tractors (link). Everyday you
had
to move the chickens, water the trees, plant some
seeds, etc. So you run wireless internet out to your
bit of land or run it thru an LTE link and have a little
robot with a PTZ camera, an auger, an extendable
arm
with a grabber and a clipper, a weedwacker arm and
a
water tank. Basically a modified MARS rover, but on
Earth designed to garden. In the winter it could
automatically plow the walk.
Every day you could check on the chickens, move
them to a new location, cut a few weeds, refill the
drip waterers on the trees and then go back to your
regular job where your boss doesn't want you to
telecommute. Then on weekends you could drive
out
to the country and visit all your good works. IN ten
years you could then retire to a lush little well
tended
valley full of trees, fruit and veggies.
Oh and it could also be equipped with a motion
sensor, a water gun, a cattle prod and a laser,
depending on the range and level of deterrent you
are looking to employ to protect your homestead.
Salatin Style Chicken Tractor
http://www.wellfedh...icken-tractor-plans [MisterQED, Jun 12 2014]
Mark Shepard and STUN
http://www.resilien...ect-by-mark-shepard [MisterQED, Jun 13 2014]
[link]
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Well intentioned but I think somebody who farms for a living would assert that this over-simplifies the amount of involvement required. |
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<unapologetic blatant racism> |
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A farmer's wife complains that he's always out in the fields, working. |
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So he goes to a farm merchant and leases a set of shiny stainless-steel agricultural robots. |
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His wife is happy to have him at home as he runs the whole farm from his laptop, but then complains about the light that glances off the shiny robots and dazzles her when she looks out of the window. |
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That night, while the robots are recharging in the barn, the farmer goes round and paints them all over with black paint. |
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The next morning, half of the robots don't show up for work ... |
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</unapologetic blatant racism> |
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<quietly steps out of the crossfire, turns on camera> |
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I'm not sure, but I imagine some aspects of this (at
least control of irrigation) are widely used on large
farms. |
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When you dial up the racism *that* high, [8th], everyone assumes it's ironic, and ignores it. |
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Racism? No, this is a cautionary tale regarding sound electrical connector masking practices before applying conductive substances. Safety first. |
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I looked up chicken tractors. A good idea... |
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//Well intentioned but I think somebody who farms for
a living would assert that this over-simplifies the
amount of involvement required.// Please realize that
this is a specific type of farming or really agroforestry
designed around lower outputs but significantly lower
labor, based on replacing high labor annual crops with
perennial trees for fruit and nut production based on
what Mark Shepard calls STUN, Sheer Total and Utter
Neglect. (link) |
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//The next morning, half of the robots don't show up for work ... // |
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Half of the robots didn't get it either ... |
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I still don't get it... I like a good joke as much as the next person. Why don't you explain it? |
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I think that the black paint covers over their cameras so they can no longer navgate properly. And not only is the paint conductive but it also blocks some parta of the radio spectrum further impairing their navigational abilities. Also the paint dribbles down into the bearings so they have difficulty operating their wheels and arms. The combination means that many of them break down before managing to exit the storage hanger. |
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<Marks [poc] down as a long-term Radio 4 listener> |
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Would there be any way to hook this thing up to
Farmville? At least it would make farmville less of a
waste of time. |
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I was going to suggest a solar powered chicken tractor, but found this solar powered robot doing a whole world of stuff and moving the tractor when it had a spare moment. |
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So what is a chicken tractor, if not a tractor designed to
be driven by a chicken? |
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