Hacker News Reader

Comment by swiley | Hacker News Reader

That's interesting, it's a large CNC machine and not a mobile robot. That makes sense.

Does it? The current construction severely limits the scale at which it could operate, so it will run out of work to do pretty quickly. That means it'll be idle most of the time. If you have a similar complexity robot but mobile, it could be trucking around a much larger field.

I don't think most people want to turn their yard into a serious farm. This is great for backyard gardens. I'd get a smaller table top version for my apartment.

Yeah, I too wonder how small you can currently get with the smallest Express version they offer.

I'd love to get something like this into my apartment, around 0.5x1 meters in size, and with a refillable water tank.

No it’s still pretty useless. If you want a legitimate backyard garden, the rain gutter grow system is the way to go. No robot, no electricity, no weeding, automated watering.

TBH for my indoor garden watering it by hand is fine (really good for my mental health honestly) I just like the idea of playing with the robot.

Are you talking about the system where you put buckets above a rain gutter which has a float valve to set the level? E.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyOIRVjatdg

That's actually quite clever! Though I'm not sure how they avoid the gutters from turning into algae blooming, mosquito-breeding cesspools. :p

Edit: Oh I guess you can just cover the gutter in plastic and ensure there is enough water throughput to stay fairly fresh: https://permaculturefoodforest.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/rain...

I don't think it's a problem to make this robot wider and longer if there will be demand

The problem with this type of robot is that it doesn't scale that well price-wise compared to a mobile type. You'll need longer rails on the sides and the gantry will start sagging after a certain length. Meanwhile something on wheels or tracks has a slightly higher initial investment but has almost zero extra cost for driving a little bit further.

I see, thank you for explaining. Wheeled robot would take more space between plants and how would it carry a water hose without damaging plants?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com