Plant progress upstairs after two weeks!
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The plants are coming up - and FAST. They are 100% watered by the robot, and their lives depend on its efforts every morning to keep them alive. So far, the morning treks to and from the planter have been mostly un eventful, however there are still many issues I am dealing with one at a time to improve the setup and optimize the programming. It may take a year to perfect this system, however by then we can move to more planters and larger crop yields. One problem I have had to deal with is that the two motors that drive the robot started out running the same speed when the robot was brand new, but as they slowly wear in, one side is getting slower all the time. To deal with this for now, Ive changed the compass drive routine to continuously correct its bearing rather than periodically. Eventually, I may have to get different motors that are more even. (Robot evolution!) Here are a few shots taken this week of the current setup: |
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| Left: On August 23rd, here is what the setup upstairs looked like. The robot is on its charger/filling station on the left, and the planter on the right. A good distance to test the setup, and plenty of light to grow the plants next to the 8 foot Arcadia door. |
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| Left: August 23rd, seeds have just been planted.... |
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Left: Today - September 6th - The snap peas are shooting upwards on the left, and the radishes are on the right two water tubes. I made some lattice sticks for the peas to wrap their little tendrils on so they dont fall over. They are outgrowing them already. The radish babies had to be thinned to about 3 or 4 per tube to let them grow. (Dawn ate them!). |
| Left: Here is the You Tube movie taken on August 23rd showing the robot driving to the planter on a typical morning run. |
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Interested in learning more on the development of this robot? Here are previous uploads - LATEST AT THE BOTTOM: Previous Articles 1. Plant watering sensors 2. Cbot basic concepts and project definition 3. Docking sensor, battery charging and FSM explained 4. Development of the water tank, pump and feed mechanism 5. Development of the reservoir refill system 6. Incorporating the Triple axis magnetometer for compass navigation 7. Installing the final components - Bumper Switch Array 8. Night - Day - Night Detection to trigger watering task 9. Planter Water Distribution System for Autonomous Watering |
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