[HN Gopher] Tractor cab looks like a space ship (2021) [video]
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Tractor cab looks like a space ship (2021) [video]
        
       Author : mmh0000
       Score  : 66 points
       Date   : 2024-01-30 17:53 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.youtube.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.youtube.com)
        
       | ijhuygft776 wrote:
       | The result of the cost of this tractor divided by cost of a Tesla
       | is somewhat close to the number of screens in this tractor.
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | Would be amazing if Tesla started building tractors like
         | Porsche and Lamborghini used to.
         | 
         | EDIT: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lamborghini
        
           | samstave wrote:
           | > _...Lamboghini used to..._ "
           | 
           | They litereally started as a tractor company, and as I
           | understand it was annoyed at Enzo Ferrari and challeneged
           | himself to making a supercar, and later the "Holy Shit"
           | Countach was born (but the earlier Lambos are really
           | beautiful)
        
           | dylan604 wrote:
           | what do you mean used to?
           | 
           | Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear fame has a 2-season show about
           | his farm. In the first episode, he buys a Lambo tractor
           | because "of course he does" type of logic.
        
             | toomuchtodo wrote:
             | > As a world financial crisis began to take hold, Ferruccio
             | Lamborghini's companies began to run into financial
             | difficulties. In 1971, Lamborghini's tractor company, which
             | exported around half of its production, ran into
             | difficulties. Cento, Trattori's South African importer,
             | cancelled all its orders. After staging a successful coup
             | d'etat, the new military government of Bolivia cancelled a
             | large order of tractors that was partially ready to ship
             | from Genoa. Trattori's employees, like Automobili's, were
             | unionised and could not be laid off. In 1972, Lamborghini
             | sold his entire holding in Trattori to SAME, another
             | tractor builder.
             | 
             | The name lives on in the ag market, but built by SAME, not
             | Automobili.
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Trattori
             | 
             | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAME_(tractors)
        
           | IndrekR wrote:
           | Lamborghini still makes them (owned by SAME):
           | https://www.lamborghini-tractors.com
           | 
           | There is also a tractor company called FERRARI, but they have
           | nothing to do with Enzo Ferrari as far as I know.
        
             | tgsovlerkhgsel wrote:
             | I believe you are correct about Ferrari:
             | 
             | "Ferrari Tractors are designed and built in Italy by the
             | BCS Group." (https://www.ferraritractor.com/faq)
             | 
             | English Wikipedia gives up at that point, but itwiki has
             | https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_(azienda)
             | 
             | Google Translate: "FERRARI of Luzzara (RE) is one of the
             | historic brands in the field of agricultural mechanization.
             | Founded in 1954 as "Officine Meccanica Ferrari SpA", in the
             | period of reconstruction and mechanization of the country,
             | it was one of the most enterprising companies in the
             | agricultural machinery sector."
             | 
             | Meanwhile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari says it was
             | founded in 1939 and doesn't mention tractors at all.
        
             | randomdata wrote:
             | Ferrari (the car brand) and CNH (Case IH, New Holland) were
             | both under the same ownership a few years back, so in a way
             | you could say they were Ferrari tractors. Seems there has
             | been some changes in the meantime, though.
        
       | orenlindsey wrote:
       | Farmers are truly geniuses. They have to be a combination of
       | agriculturalist, meteorologist, engineer, mechanic, handyman,
       | builder, vet, hydrologist, and now we're adding technologist to
       | that. They also generally have an amazing work ethic (getting up
       | before sunrise, working in the blazing heat all day, etc). Not to
       | mention dealing with disasters like diseases, weather events,
       | accidents (lots of sharp blades, tools, etc).
       | 
       | Massive respect for them. Even with this tractor, this guy likely
       | does more work than the majority of people. They feed our entire
       | society with a ton of work for very little reward. We don't give
       | them the respect they're due.
        
         | mstade wrote:
         | I've recently picked up Farming Simulator on PS5, not so much
         | because I'm into farming or anything but it's a great little
         | game for shutting your brain off for a while. There's no point
         | to the game, beyond just farming, which is great because you
         | can pick it up and drop off whenever, you're not in the middle
         | of some narrative.
         | 
         | Point being: they've put a lot of effort into modelling the
         | different tractors and first time I used the in-vehicle
         | perspective I was amazed at all the screens and knobs and dials
         | and levers and what not. They don't really do anything in the
         | game, it's just for show, but man they are complex beasts
         | clearly.
         | 
         | Then again, I can definitely see the value of at least some of
         | these features. Like you spend an inordinate amount of time
         | just making sure you get maximum yield from a field, while
         | keeping costs low, so having a screen tell you how much fuel
         | you're consuming per turn or whatever is actually pretty
         | useful.
         | 
         | Anyway, I absolutely agree - farmers are incredible! I have a
         | whole new appreciation for farming equipment and farmers in
         | general, just from playing this silly game.
        
           | bombcar wrote:
           | I wonder how much it is like an aircraft - many many many
           | dials and knobs, all with there purpose, but only a few
           | needed in _normal_ operation, or used once or twice a trip.
        
             | dguest wrote:
             | I assumed the purpose on an aircraft is a bit different:
             | you don't want a "check engine" light to go on when you are
             | 10 miles from the nearest landing strip. Probably a bit
             | more detail is useful when a stalled engine means 50% odds
             | of survival.
        
               | vvanders wrote:
               | It's more of operating vs using, we had a CUT and there
               | were situations where you want the control(diff lock,
               | split brakes to turn in-place, etc).
               | 
               | Hydraulics and attachments open up almost an endless
               | possibilities.
        
         | samstave wrote:
         | The Farmers Almanac! is a treasure.
        
         | AuryGlenz wrote:
         | This is going to sound mean, but do you actually know any
         | farmers?
         | 
         | At least in my area, they aren't exactly known to be geniuses.
         | The ones that have built up their business by buying out other
         | farms and have tons of acres and employees? Sure. The usual
         | "inherited the family farm" type? Not so much.
         | 
         | They have two small periods during the year where they're up
         | before sunrise and stop working after sundown, assuming they
         | live in an area with one harvest. Overall they work a hell of a
         | lot less than most of us, and have more money. I have a friend
         | that owns a business where he sells side-by-sides, four
         | wheelers, snowmobiles, etc. The amount that many spend by
         | buying all the newest toys every year is incredible.
         | 
         | The downside, of course, is that you need to be born in to it.
         | A tiny 100 acre farm's land is worth north of 1 million
         | dollars, not to mention a ton of other startup costs. Land
         | isn't for sale very often, as usually at least one child wants
         | to take it up. I don't even know how you'd approach starting
         | from scratch unless you were already rich.
         | 
         | Note: I'm referring to crop farmers. Animals are hard work and
         | I don't understand why any small time farmer still does it.
        
           | orenlindsey wrote:
           | People who just inherit a farm and get other people to run it
           | aren't farmers.
        
             | carlosjobim wrote:
             | That's how most farming has been arranged since the
             | invention of agriculture.
        
             | randomdata wrote:
             | Not so. By definition, both in common usage and legally,
             | the farmer is the owner. The farmer may also work in the
             | operation, but that is not a strict requirement.
        
               | bigstrat2003 wrote:
               | Calling someone who owns land and hires people to work it
               | a farmer is like calling someone who owns a factory a
               | "factory worker". In some technical sense maybe it's
               | correct, but that's not what people mean when they use
               | the term.
        
               | randomdata wrote:
               | Not at all. Again, farmer refers to the owner. This is
               | echoed in the dictionary as well as what is written in
               | law.
               | 
               | The word people use for what you describe is _farmhand_.
               | It is the farmhand who works on a farm. The farmhand is
               | the agricultural equivalent of a factory worker. Indeed,
               | someone who owns a farm, but does not work on it, would
               | not be considered a farmhand, but they most definitely
               | would be a farmer.
               | 
               | It is technically possible for one to be both a farmer
               | and a farmhand, but being a farmer does not imply that
               | one is also a farmhand. They are distinct roles.
        
               | wharvle wrote:
               | "Factory worker" is more like "farm hand". It _would_ be
               | weird for a farm owner to give that answer, when asked
               | what their job is.
        
           | rascul wrote:
           | > Animals are hard work and I don't understand why any small
           | time farmer still does it.
           | 
           | I guess it depends on the animal, and how many. I work
           | sometimes on a hobby farm with around 30 pineywoods cattle
           | and they're almost maintenance free. The hay is more work
           | than those cattle and basically all we do for that is drive
           | tractors around for a few days, a few times a year.
        
           | bluGill wrote:
           | My impression is young farmers without land start with
           | Animals because you can do it. Animals can live on land that
           | cannot be farmed for row crops, and need much less land to
           | make some money. so you buy some land - a few acres - then
           | raise animals on that while working a day job someplace to
           | pay the bills. As land becomes available you buy it, but
           | sticking with animals as that is what you know. after 20
           | years of this you have enough trust with the banks to buy
           | some row crop field that goes on sale. Another 10 years and
           | you finally are earning enough from the farm to live without
           | the other job and 10 more years and you can retire - letting
           | your kids inherit a nice income from the mostly paid off farm
           | (or sell the farm and retire to a nice life)
        
           | frogpelt wrote:
           | And of course, as usual, the truth is somewhere in the
           | middle.
           | 
           | Farmers aren't all geniuses, but they also aren't mostly lazy
           | idiots like you depict them to be.
        
           | bigstrat2003 wrote:
           | I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin (and I knew plenty of
           | crop farmers as well, of course), and frankly none of what
           | you said is congruent with my own experience. As orenlindsey
           | said, farmers are generally smart people who have to juggle
           | many hats and work their asses off in order to scrape out a
           | very modest living. "Genius" is probably stretching a bit,
           | but they aren't stupid laggards who get by on the inheritance
           | they got from their parents the way you imply.
           | 
           | > The downside, of course, is that you need to be born in to
           | it. A tiny 100 acre farm's land is worth north of 1 million
           | dollars, not to mention a ton of other startup costs. Land
           | isn't for sale very often, as usually at least one child
           | wants to take it up. I don't even know how you'd approach
           | starting from scratch unless you were already rich.
           | 
           | This is just flat out false. My dad started our farm (90
           | acres) from scratch. He did it by working his ass off, often
           | working two or three jobs, while living frugally and saving
           | as much as he could for a down payment. Then he got a
           | mortgage, just like most people do when they buy property.
           | It's hard in the sense that saving money is always hard, but
           | it's certainly not impossible and something where you can't
           | pull it off without a helping hand from your parents.
        
         | rndmize wrote:
         | I disagree. Farming has been the default job in human society
         | for thousands of years - and still is, even today. There's
         | nothing special about farmers, they aren't geniuses, the work
         | is not that difficult - it requires effort, care and
         | perseverance.
         | 
         | And this shouldn't be surprising. Farming is a very human
         | activity, and can be done by pretty much any human. You don't
         | need to be exceptional to do it. In fact it would be ridiculous
         | if you did - imagine if only 1 in 50 people was brilliant
         | enough to become a farmer - human civilization would never have
         | gotten started.
         | 
         | Praising something like this feels silly to me, much as when
         | people talk about "being a mother is the hardest job" or
         | similar. It's not. Being a mother is a common human experience,
         | and most women go through it.
         | 
         | This isn't to say such things shouldn't be celebrated. The idea
         | of celebrations around harvest or motherhood is appealing to
         | me, but there's nothing exceptional here, and there shouldn't
         | be. Simple things, regular things, things everyone can do or
         | goes through are worth celebrating, not just the exceptions,
         | the geniuses, the stand-outs.
        
           | baq wrote:
           | Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software
           | engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a
           | farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason.
           | 
           | You could argue more women nowadays don't want to be mothers
           | because it's hard. Especially if that's the second job and
           | unpaid, actually _you_ have to pay lots of money to be a
           | successful mother. So yeah, it 's exceptional... that anyone
           | wants to have children at all! Though that's quickly
           | changing, too.
        
             | rndmize wrote:
             | > Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software
             | engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a
             | farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason.
             | 
             | There's a difference between hard = effort, and hard =
             | difficulty. Most people struggle to understand software
             | engineering concepts. If you do understand them, then the
             | effort required to succeed at the job is less than
             | parenting/farming/etc; but there's a reason software
             | engineers are in the top 20% of the economic ladder and
             | picking vegetables on a farm is on the bottom.
             | 
             | And at last check, subsistence farming was still the
             | default job worldwide. Perhaps things have changed in the
             | last decade or two, but I have my doubts.
             | 
             | (I'd also take issue on the idea of parenting being
             | difficult, vs. good parenting, vs. newer cultural
             | expectations on parents/education/helicoptering, vs. kids
             | being free to roam etc etc., but that's a whole huge
             | discussion on its own - and I think there's a pretty strong
             | argument to be made that raising kids is not harder on
             | either axis than having a job, but doing both at once is
             | very difficult and forces an economic choice many women are
             | making in favor of money.)
        
               | randomdata wrote:
               | As both a farmer and a software engineer, farming is
               | _way_ harder - and I don 't mean in terms of effort. To
               | your economic point, farming pays better too.
               | 
               | Sure, neither is hard if you want to do it at subsistence
               | level. Hell, I started programming at like 5 years old.
               | Software development is the easiest endeavour a human can
               | partake in - so easy, it is easily picked up by young
               | children who can barely read. Anyone can build software.
               | 
               | But I think it is far to say that building robust,
               | reliable, performant, and scalable software that
               | satisfies a market need is a different story. And same
               | goes for farming. If you want to farm at a level beyond
               | subsistence, that is when it becomes hard.
        
           | ok_dad wrote:
           | I was kinda with you up until you started talking out of your
           | ass about parenting, it is probably the hardest job I've ever
           | done in my life, and I have had various physically and/or
           | mentally challenging jobs.
           | 
           | The key to why parenting is such a hard job: it literally
           | doesn't end for about two or more decades and you absolutely
           | cannot quit or slack off on this gig, no matter what!
           | 
           | Just because something "always has been" doesn't mean it's
           | easy.
        
             | rndmize wrote:
             | > The key to why parenting is such a hard job: it literally
             | doesn't end for about two or more decades and you
             | absolutely cannot quit or slack off on this gig, no matter
             | what!
             | 
             | We might not like to admit it, but people can and do, all
             | the time. There's an ideal as far as being a parent goes
             | that we try to hold people to and enforce culturally - but
             | that doesn't stop people from getting divorces or dumping
             | their kids on their partner or parents while they go off
             | and do their own thing. I know a number of people that more
             | or less raised themselves - their parents provided
             | necessities and that was about it.
             | 
             | There's also a larger discussion to be had on parenting and
             | why it takes more time and effort than past generations;
             | the difficulty of raising kids with two working parents;
             | the move away from extended family groups and close
             | neighbors that can help with kids; the increase in
             | helicoptering/worrying and loss of independence; all of
             | which contributes to making things more difficult.
             | 
             | > Just because something "always has been" doesn't mean
             | it's easy.
             | 
             | I never said it was easy. What I said was it's not the
             | hardest job, it's a common human experience, and it
             | deserves celebrating even if it is an average, common
             | thing.
        
             | bigstrat2003 wrote:
             | Don't worry, he's talking out of his ass about farming as
             | well.
        
           | bigstrat2003 wrote:
           | > There's nothing special about farmers, they aren't
           | geniuses, the work is not that difficult
           | 
           | This is absolutely laughable. The work is incredibly
           | difficult. It literally destroys your body, every old farmer
           | I've ever known has a heap of medical issues from having to
           | do a lifetime of physical labor. It may not be
           | _intellectually_ difficult, but it 's very difficult work.
        
         | baq wrote:
         | Don't forget futures traders.
        
         | throwaway894345 wrote:
         | A decade ago I worked on the first version of the (current
         | generation of the) main touch screen in John Deere equipment. I
         | haven't watched the full video, but you can see it in some of
         | the clips. Neat to think that some code I wrote a decade ago is
         | likely still running on these things.
        
         | m3kw9 wrote:
         | The farmer uses the tech, the engineers at Deere developed it
         | because that want farmer asked for
        
       | maxglute wrote:
       | I mean does it have to?
       | 
       | Looks like slapping a bunch of hardware to circumvent poor
       | interoperability.
       | 
       | And F35 cockpit has large single MFD, MFD setup of any 4+
       | generation fighter is 2-3 screens for what I imagine to be more
       | complicated missions.
        
         | bluGill wrote:
         | No, but this is a 10-20 year old planter where all the useful
         | parts have been replaced with something from a different
         | manufactures. Buy a new planter and more than half of those
         | independent screens/controls go away. Buy a new tractor and
         | another can go away. Buy a tractor and planter from the same
         | manufacture and you can get down to just 1 (but realistically
         | you have enough data to monitor that you would have 2-3).
         | 
         | There is also the ISO11783 protocol which this tractor (which
         | is at least 10 years old) has in the base model that could show
         | everything, but the resolution available isn't really good and
         | so while 3-5 controls could use that instead of a separate box,
         | anything on a high resolution screen needs to stay. I don't
         | know why the manufacture of those controls choose not to.
        
       | AShyFig wrote:
       | Is there anywhere I can anonymously upload an image to show off
       | my own "spaceship tractor cab?" It's been awhile since I've
       | tried, and it seems imgur no longer allows non-users to do this.
        
         | erikig wrote:
         | I've used postimg.cc in the past, links are still live and it
         | seems pretty anonymous.
        
         | TheNorthman wrote:
         | Imgur should work fine. It at least does so for me.
         | 
         | If not your style, https://imgbb.com is also an option. More
         | ads, though
         | 
         | But please do upload a picture. That would be interesting.
        
           | AShyFig wrote:
           | Thanks! Imgur worked on my desktop.
           | 
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39195506
        
             | TheNorthman wrote:
             | Very cool!
             | 
             | While at uni, I worked on a local fishing boat doing
             | (amongst many things) hardware/software integration, and
             | did some work on equipment communicating via NMEA. Very fun
             | blast-to-the-past, didn't know the standard was used
             | outside of marine environments.
        
       | aidenn0 wrote:
       | They talk about GPS guided tractors for planting vs. using a
       | marker wheel. I'm surprised GPS is accurate enough for that; are
       | they using something like DGPS to get the needed accuracy?
        
         | FrankPetrilli wrote:
         | GPS on its own especially with systems like WAAS is quite
         | accurate these days, generally within a few meters. If you need
         | more (which planting most crops does) there's also RTK [1],
         | which permits centimeter-level accuracy from relatively
         | inexpensive / simple setups. Here's an example of a local RTK
         | base station with radio link in the industry [2], and
         | additionally it's possible to get these corrections off cell
         | network data connections [3]. Radio offers you more hyperlocal
         | corrections which could improve accuracy a touch, but comes
         | with all the downsides you'd expect of a local radio system so
         | both are viable options.
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-
         | time_kinematic_positionin... [2]
         | https://www.deere.com/en/technology-products/precision-ag-te...
         | [3] https://www.deere.com/en/technology-products/precision-ag-
         | te...
        
           | aidenn0 wrote:
           | Hmm, I always thought of RTK as including carrier-phase
           | tracking, which would make it overkill for farming if the
           | base-station is fixed (on the order of 2mm relative-position
           | accuracy; absolute positional accuracy is not much better
           | than DGPS without carrier phase-tracking). Wikipedia is
           | ambiguous as to whether or not RTK necessarily includes
           | carrier-phase tracking.
        
         | supermatt wrote:
         | GPS with RTK from a basestation. Get about 2.5cm accuracy.
        
         | eschneider wrote:
         | Tractors don't rely on _just_ GPS for planting, etc. They
         | augment with some other technologies to get the necessary
         | accuracy (a few cm of accuracy) for positioning.
        
       | dylan604 wrote:
       | I think it looks likes less like a space ship and looks closer to
       | a modern music producer's work station.
        
         | falcolas wrote:
         | I was thinking NOC myself. One monitor per major system being
         | monitored.
         | 
         | Not a ton of space ship vibe (especially the Dragon, for
         | example), just a lot of poorly integrated individual systems
         | that each comes with their own monitor and control system.
         | Which is maybe better than a tightly integrated system when it
         | comes to farming implements.
        
           | pbourke wrote:
           | > Which is maybe better than a tightly integrated system when
           | it comes to farming implements.
           | 
           | He mentions swapping out components from last season a couple
           | of times, so lack of integration is probably a feature.
        
             | dylan604 wrote:
             | I don't see how farmers can afford to not use this tech,
             | but I also don't understand how they can afford them. We
             | constantly told about the thin margins farmers work with,
             | which seems like the math to afford the payments on these
             | machines ever work out.
             | 
             | It also seems like this is one of those things that buying
             | the base model is never enough. There were two different
             | types of row cleaners in the front of the towed unit. There
             | were devices at the back of each row that also seem like an
             | add-on. The thing that presses the seeds down, and then the
             | _smart_ version that detected soil moisture and other info.
             | Of course that 's one of those 'for a small nominal fee'
             | type of add-ons. John Deere seems to figure out how to keep
             | his hand in the farmer's pocket eternally
        
       | rmason wrote:
       | I left my career as an agronomist 25 years ago. That was around 8
       | years into the precision ag revolution. It was great to view this
       | video, we only dreamed of this sort of control while planting
       | back then. Everything was manual and getting everything
       | calibrated was a dusty job for the farmer, setting something
       | climbing back into the tractor, going a couple of hundred feet
       | and then getting out to make another change.
       | 
       | Once you got everything dialed in you rarely made many changes,
       | The ability to change field by field or even in a field to adopt
       | to different soil types is nothing short of amazing. Lots of
       | times an individual row would stop planting and you wouldn't
       | notice.
       | 
       | I worked a lot with satellite infrared photos and it wasn't
       | uncommon to look at a field and see an entire row missing or
       | planted at a half rate. I predict in time though a lot of these
       | screens will become less important as your AI agent will be
       | making all these sorts of adjustments for you.
        
       | ballooney wrote:
       | It feels like we're in a bit of a nadir, agriculturally, in terms
       | of soil exhaustion and erosion, crop monocultures, and so on,
       | largely because of technology letting you do the same thing to
       | bigger areas more quickly and with fewer people, and we're
       | reaching the end of the epoch where the cost of this can be
       | blithely externalised.
       | 
       | _However_, it seems like it could also be an inflection point,
       | again because of technology. Imagine if tractors could tow behind
       | them not a spraying trailer but a computer vision + laser system
       | that could identify and zap individual weeds rather than
       | napalming the whole ecosystem chemically, or that had arms that
       | could pick only the correct, or ripe crop, or sub-varietal of
       | crop, on a field planted with a variety of useful plants that
       | balanced out the intensity with which they extracted nutrients
       | from the soil. All of this at the cost/scale required to support
       | the 8 billion (or so) people on the earth now with the
       | agricultural land we have now, but perhaps too with the ability
       | to open up more marginal bits of land to agriculture, and de-
       | intensify the current wrung-to-death expanses of flat that we
       | have to use now to accommodate the limitations of current farm
       | machinery.
        
         | pests wrote:
         | > a computer vision + laser system that could identify and zap
         | individual weeds rather than napalming the whole ecosystem
         | chemically
         | 
         | > arms that could pick only the correct, or ripe crop, or sub-
         | varietal of crop, on a field planted with a variety of useful
         | plants
         | 
         | I've seen demos for both of these in the last year or two.
        
         | bluGill wrote:
         | Modern farmers using the best practices are building back soil
         | not exhausting it. The typical practice since about 1980-1990
         | was holding the line, but research has found to how build up
         | soil and a few farmers are employing it.
         | 
         | While lasers are not used (yet?) you can now get sprayers that
         | will spray chemical only on weeds and not the rest of the
         | field. Or more likely you apply herbicide at a low dose across
         | the whole field and then a high dose (possibly different
         | chemical) where there is a weed.
        
         | Animats wrote:
         | > Imagine if tractors could tow behind them not a spraying
         | trailer but a computer vision + laser system that could
         | identify and zap individual weeds.
         | 
         | It exists. [1][2]. Robotic tractor, vision system, multiple
         | 150W CO2 lasers. There is no such thing as overkill. It's
         | really cool. "Certified Organic".
         | 
         | A more practical approach is See and Spray.[3] Cameras and deep
         | learning are taught to recognize and target enemy weeds. The
         | sprayer has a valve for each nozzle, and it only zaps the
         | weeds. Uses far less pesticide. For some crops a zap of spray
         | fertilizer is used. The weeds overdose and die. That's now a
         | John Deere product.
         | 
         | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Mma8IOEzc [2]
         | https://carbonrobotics.com/
         | 
         | [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH-EFtTa6IU&
        
       | ozim wrote:
       | Well yeah GIT command line is insufferable interface it should be
       | much simpler /s
        
       | AShyFig wrote:
       | For those who are curious, here is the office view of my own
       | "Spaceship tractor cab." https://imgur.com/a/ebUlEVy
       | 
       | Devices:
       | 
       | Tractor - 1979 Versatile 875. Indestructible. Used for planting
       | with a 40' air seeder.
       | 
       | Trimble 500 - This is now a redundant GPS receiver which provides
       | a special NEMA string to the device below it. Will stay in
       | operation until I can figure out how to reliably duplicate said
       | string via the primary GPS.
       | 
       | PF3000 - Old reliable. This computer allows rudimentary tracking
       | of loads to allow for seed and fertilizer rate experiments. Data
       | is saved to a CF card for later transfer to SMS Basic or QGIS.
       | 
       | CF-D1 Tablet - This handy bright touchscreen handles the signal
       | from the primary GPS and RTK towers. It communicates with various
       | sensors and a DC motor to steer the machine. Runs AgOpenGPS, a
       | incredible godsend of a project which allows these kind of
       | autosteer retrofits on old tractors for dirt cheap.
       | 
       | Various camera screens to monitor the operations of an Air
       | Seeder. You know what's cheaper and more reliable than airflow
       | and runout sensors? Cameras. :) Hopefully I'll be able to upgrade
       | these to IP cameras this spring, but for now they're all various
       | brands of cheap wired "backup cameras."
       | 
       | Agtron sensor monitor (canbus I think?) - This is supposed to
       | monitor shaft RPMS and other various functions for the Air
       | Seeder. It kinda works, but most functions are broken.
       | 
       | AtomJet Aux Hydraulic system - Allows older tractors to handle
       | newer more intensive implements.
       | 
       | AgopenGPS control board (V2.. I think) - Takes Wheel Angle sensor
       | data, GPS data, and Motion sensor Data, stews it all up on an
       | Arduino nano and feeds that to the steeringwheel motor.
       | 
       | Ardusimple GPS RTK2B - Primary GPS receiver and NEMA string
       | generator.
       | 
       | Not pictured - A streamdeck MK2 set up to control AgOpenGPS
       | functions. Of dubious usefulness. :)
       | 
       | Other future upgrades - Replacing the main hydraulic manifold
       | block with electronic solenoids. This should allow AgOpenGPS to
       | raise and lower the implement automatically, as well as control
       | various functions of the air seeder. One more step on the road to
       | total automation!
        
       | dtgriscom wrote:
       | I looove learning about technology that I don't usually come into
       | contact with.
       | 
       | My dad was a doctor, and subscribed to the New England Journal of
       | Medicine. The articles were opaque ("Defective Regulation of
       | Inflammatory Mediators in Hodgkin's Disease -- Supernormal Levels
       | of Chemotactic-Factor Inactivator"??), but the ads were
       | marvelous. Ultracentrifuges! Gel electrophoresis! Confocal
       | microscopes! Electrosurgial units! Blood gas analyzers! Catnip
       | for this budding engineer.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-01-30 23:01 UTC)