Episode 24: Solar Powered Autonomous Farming Rovers

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Meet Sequoia Alexander and Acorn, an open source autonomous solar powered farming robot designed to function within a regenerative organic farming system.

Sequoia and Daniel Theobald are building Acorn: an open source general purpose solar powered precision farming rover, intended to be used in every step of the farming process. Acorn is just one small part of the "Solar Powered Farming Revolution" - but it is unique in its community approach, which lowers the cost and ensures broader access by using bicycle parts and 3D printed parts in its approach.

Sequoia and Daniel started out designing a base vehicle that was solar powered, had four-wheel drive, and was lightweight, with the intention of making it accessible and easy to build in any location around the world. Using simple materials such as bicycle parts and 3D printable parts, they implemented a design that included a rectangular frame made from welded aluminum, with four-wheel steering on all corners.

The prototype vehicle was successfully created and equipped with remote control capabilities, a small computer, and GPS for self-driving functionality. This base vehicle serves as the foundation for incorporating tools and computer vision systems to further enhance its farming capabilities.

The Acorn project emphasizes the benefits of regenerative farming and aims to support small to medium-sized farms in implementing sustainable farming practices. By providing a platform for farmers to automate and streamline various farming tasks, the solar-powered robot has the potential to increase efficiency, reduce labor costs, and promote environmentally friendly farming methods.

Creating a versatile and accessible farming robot opens up possibilities for innovation and collaboration within the agricultural community and paves the way for a new era of automated and sustainable farming practices. The key design decisions for the robot include its capability to handle various tasks involved in the farming process, such as soil preparation, planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Sequoia and Daniel’s vision for the project extends beyond creating a single robot for their own use. They are now working on developing a production version of the robot that will be available as a kit for others to build and customize for their own farming needs. This will not only allow individuals to have their own customized farming robots, but it can also foster a community of developers and users who can collaborate and share features to further improve and expand the capabilities of the robot.

#farmingrobots #regenerativefarming #autonomousrobots

ACORN is:

-low cost
-precision farming rover
-solar powered
-4 wheel drive
-4 wheel steering
-lightweight

There is a design kit in development and you can learn more and get involved with the community at: community.twistedfields.com

You can read about the whole system here:
https://community.twistedfields.com/t/join-the-solar-farming-revolution-support-acorn-and-empower-farmers-worldwide/370

About Sequoia a.k.a. Taylor Alexander:

Sequoia makes open source robots and other things. She is the maintainer of Acorn: the Precision Farming Rover from Twisted Fields. Sequoia has been a robotics software engineer for many years. Their github is here: https://github.com/tlalexander

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