Unmanned Grow Bot? I call it RCG... building a robot controlled by wifi to gro

Dutchmast3r

Active Member
dude............? wtf...i love growing and watering and feeling my plants..i wudnt want some robot doin it. i guess for legal safety reasons but theyll prob find the person who operating it somehow if they care enough..if ur not planning on having like 100 plants..why do this? whats the point? its not like ur gunna patent this and someone is going to take this seriously and pay u for ur weed growing robot? lol get real dude
 
dude............? wtf...i love growing and watering and feeling my plants..i wudnt want some robot doin it. i guess for legal safety reasons but theyll prob find the person who operating it somehow if they care enough..if ur not planning on having like 100 plants..why do this? whats the point? its not like ur gunna patent this and someone is going to take this seriously and pay u for ur weed growing robot? lol get real dude
how about you go somewhere else and waste someone elses time i mean really what part of your lame as post benefited anyone
 
next time anyone gets an idea remember , its already been done......... http://amog.com/tech/robot-gardener-plants-harvests/
yeah similar but no not the same at all and might i add a sloppy lookin bot if you ask me but atleast some good did come from this I can see the arm in the pic similar design as i need but i dont think some of you people even read the whole thread so from now on ill try to ignore the haters and the other wise unhelpful... anyone got any real info on this I mean yeah Ive thought about a patent but I would not be posting here if I was going to patent this... it is simply a way to grow outdoors with reduced risk and without physically going to the location
 
Let me clarify some things for you guys maybe we can get this thread headed in the right direction...

First off this IS an OUTDOOR ROBOT Not A Grow Room...

take it like this the best way I think to make this work is to take something like this bomb defuser...
robot tank.jpg
but thats just too noticable if someone were to catch a glimps or stumble accross it... i know id go after it... so
tank minus arm.png
I would remove the gigantic arm and design it in a way were it could be internal until needed shouldnt be too hard...
tank modded with retractable arm.pngnow with this done all the rest is just accessories (water res., nute dispenser, add some garden snips, and solar panels )

And you end up with something like this...
robot in action.jpg
 

Whatstrain

Well-Known Member
Ahh so you want outdoors. You have some good base ideas. If you want to have 5 plants outside that you have hooked up so you dont have to visit them more than maybe 3 times during the season to plant, then culling males and switching to flowering nutes and finally harvest then it shouldnt be too hard to do. If you're serious and not just having those "high time" dreams of having fields full of nice busy females like we all have then with a little work you can do this no problem. But making something automated like this means you are going to have a location that is close to water and isnt to close to anyone so its going to be even harder. You will have to build a few different basic systems and put probably 50+hours outdoors once you find your spot just to start setting it up and get it perfect which it probably wont be till you have a few grows using the system. I also dont know if you're doing this outside your backyard and you can hook it up close to you or if its 50miles+ away.

Water/nutes/space:
Well i would find your spot and build a little tree fort up above in the nearest biggest and tallest tree have it 30feet up or so i would say you will need a water source somewhere nearby. It doesnt have to be anything fancy but it should be enough to support your weight+100pounds. I would use water cooler bottles (5gallons i think) for your nutes and water, 1 for your nutrients and 2 or 3 (depending on how you set it up) for straight water along with two valves some big water pumps depending on distance to your water source and how high up your plants are and a couple hundred feet of drip line's(need to find out distances), motors to move the valves for water/nutes and a few car battery's and solar panels.

http://www.livingwatercanada.com/imgs/5gallon.jpg
Youll want to put your 5gallon waterjugs or whatever you use strapped against the tree but upside down (How they sit on the top of a cooler), i would use some type of rachet strapping for each one and have it go through handle to keep it against the tree, each jug should have its own strap through the handle to make sure they are all nice and tight and then one big strap all around the tree and outside of the jugs just to make it a bit tighter. Keep all three on the side of the tree trunk that your treefort is in (Dont be stupid and put one water res on the other side of the tree) at the opening in each bottle put your valves there, i would just use the same type they have for washing machines along with a small chain hooked up to a motor to spin it. For nutes i would dilute them down a bit depending on what type you get along with a smaller hose that leads into your main water res. You want it so that 2-3seconds of your nutrients is enough for one feeding but not to much. To figure out how much in a feeding get a PPM meter and get some of the water you will be using along with your nutrients and find out how many ML(or however you want to measure) it takes to bring your PPM up to 750 or whatever level is suitable for you to a gallon of water, then run your hose for a second(or 10) to find out how much nutrients flow in that time period. So if lets say it takes 20seconds to get enough nutes to bring your PPM to 750 for a gallon of water, then you have 5 gallons youll need to run it for 100 seconds(obviously you will be looking at running it for a lot less time).

You will want to have a decent sized water pump depending on distances. Get one of those big plastic buckets they use for paint (they use them for hydro a lot) and get a few different sizes of mesh screen, cut holes in the bucket and place your screen in (keeping the bucket sturdy but having enough mesh holes to allow large amounts of water to flow freely. You want to allow as much water into the bucket without getting a lot of dirt/things that can block it up. So play around with a few different sized screens to find out. Fill the bottom of your bucket with cement or something heavy and stable to keep it weighted down, submerge your pump into your bucket and put the bucket deep in your water source. Probably going to have to make your wire from your pump to the power source on land longer and well sealed from water so plan on having 20-30feet of extra sealed wire. I would look into some type of large metal screen thats solid and you could put overtop of your bucket just to protect it from passing objects and knocking it over in your river/pond. On shore you will need a battery source like a car battery that can be recharged by solar panels or something like that and a few power inverters i am guessing, it really shouldnt be to hard to do. From the waterpump you should weight down your hose and have it come to shore buried a few inches down going towards your treefort. For stealth i would keep everything buried a inch or below and also stop animals from discovering it. Your water line goes up the tree trunk and into the top of your water res where its stored till the valves dump the water. Hoses/pumps you will probably need to take some figuring out, you need to have a small enough line to keep the water pressure up and a big enough pump to get it the distance while not pumping out more water then your bucket can hold (small worry really). You wont need to have it pump all the time so if it takes 5hours to slowly fill your water res's then thats no big deal as long as your battery can run it and recharge in time.

From your water res i would have some 1/2" or 1" drip line irrigation running to your plants with 1gph drip's or something like that, the great thing about this is that you dont need to have the tree fort far from your plants. Using the battery/solar panels to run your motors to turn the flow on and off to the plants. This can all be run on timers if you wanted so that once every 2-3 days your water pumps to the tree fort then 12hours later or however long you want the water is then to the plants and having your nutrients being added whenever you need them. You could run the lines from your water pump straight to your plants but i like the idea of having a place to store it and monitor it while you can also mix nutrients into it. Using subcool's super soil so you dont have to add nutrients and just having the water straight to the plants is the easiest way. Drippers can be skipped but i would worry about having all of my water flow out of the first few and never getting the last few the amount of water they need, mind you having it straight from the pump might cause to much pressure on the drippers but i have no experience with that

Getting it up to this point and having it flawless so it doesnt need to be monitored is very possible and shouldnt cost to much money wise as most parts could be found second hand. Its just going to involve a lot of work and getting your timers and making sure everything runs without you needing to be there.


Computer/webcams: From here it gets more difficult. You will have to do some research and testing to find out how long you can run a computer from a car battery using solar pannels to charge it. It shouldnt be to hard to have it stay in sleep mode and flip on when you need it so its not hogging all the power 24/7 but watch out for some basic problems like having a battery that is meant to work for a few hours and charge rather than always having a constant small power draw from it like you would with a computer in hibernate. Use a phone to "teather" to your computer with USB so you can use the internet or pick up a internet stick that plugs into the USB that most cellular places have (costs a couple hundred bucks along with monthly fee's). You can hook all your webcams up but they probably wont run while in sleep mode and you would need a huge harddrive to back it all up when really if your webcams don't turn on you know its been busted. You could set up some digital cameras with motion senors so if someone comes near it takes a picture and you can download those pictures by having it plugged into your computer with some long usb cords.

Hope it helps somewhat.
 

RawBudzski

Well-Known Member
You do realize a robot as pictured above ^^^ many times used by military & leo can cost upward of $300,000..without the specialized gear for whatever task is needed.


Not trying to kill any dreams.. but whynot start smaller.. .

Like building a machine that simultaneously cooks Eggs, toast & bacon, while pre-warming your plate.
 
Ahh so you want outdoors. You have some good base ideas. If you want to have 5 plants outside that you have hooked up so you dont have to visit them more than maybe 3 times during the season to plant, then culling males and switching to flowering nutes and finally harvest then it shouldnt be too hard to do. If you're serious and not just having those "high time" dreams of having fields full of nice busy females like we all have then with a little work you can do this no problem. But making something automated like this means you are going to have a location that is close to water and isnt to close to anyone so its going to be even harder. You will have to build a few different basic systems and put probably 50+hours outdoors once you find your spot just to start setting it up and get it perfect which it probably wont be till you have a few grows using the system. I also dont know if you're doing this outside your backyard and you can hook it up close to you or if its 50miles+ away.

Water/nutes/space:
Well i would find your spot and build a little tree fort up above in the nearest biggest and tallest tree have it 30feet up or so i would say you will need a water source somewhere nearby. It doesnt have to be anything fancy but it should be enough to support your weight+100pounds. I would use water cooler bottles (5gallons i think) for your nutes and water, 1 for your nutrients and 2 or 3 (depending on how you set it up) for straight water along with two valves some big water pumps depending on distance to your water source and how high up your plants are and a couple hundred feet of drip line's(need to find out distances), motors to move the valves for water/nutes and a few car battery's and solar panels.

http://www.livingwatercanada.com/imgs/5gallon.jpg
Youll want to put your 5gallon waterjugs or whatever you use strapped against the tree but upside down (How they sit on the top of a cooler), i would use some type of rachet strapping for each one and have it go through handle to keep it against the tree, each jug should have its own strap through the handle to make sure they are all nice and tight and then one big strap all around the tree and outside of the jugs just to make it a bit tighter. Keep all three on the side of the tree trunk that your treefort is in (Dont be stupid and put one water res on the other side of the tree) at the opening in each bottle put your valves there, i would just use the same type they have for washing machines along with a small chain hooked up to a motor to spin it. For nutes i would dilute them down a bit depending on what type you get along with a smaller hose that leads into your main water res. You want it so that 2-3seconds of your nutrients is enough for one feeding but not to much. To figure out how much in a feeding get a PPM meter and get some of the water you will be using along with your nutrients and find out how many ML(or however you want to measure) it takes to bring your PPM up to 750 or whatever level is suitable for you to a gallon of water, then run your hose for a second(or 10) to find out how much nutrients flow in that time period. So if lets say it takes 20seconds to get enough nutes to bring your PPM to 750 for a gallon of water, then you have 5 gallons youll need to run it for 100 seconds(obviously you will be looking at running it for a lot less time).

You will want to have a decent sized water pump depending on distances. Get one of those big plastic buckets they use for paint (they use them for hydro a lot) and get a few different sizes of mesh screen, cut holes in the bucket and place your screen in (keeping the bucket sturdy but having enough mesh holes to allow large amounts of water to flow freely. You want to allow as much water into the bucket without getting a lot of dirt/things that can block it up. So play around with a few different sized screens to find out. Fill the bottom of your bucket with cement or something heavy and stable to keep it weighted down, submerge your pump into your bucket and put the bucket deep in your water source. Probably going to have to make your wire from your pump to the power source on land longer and well sealed from water so plan on having 20-30feet of extra sealed wire. I would look into some type of large metal screen thats solid and you could put overtop of your bucket just to protect it from passing objects and knocking it over in your river/pond. On shore you will need a battery source like a car battery that can be recharged by solar panels or something like that and a few power inverters i am guessing, it really shouldnt be to hard to do. From the waterpump you should weight down your hose and have it come to shore buried a few inches down going towards your treefort. For stealth i would keep everything buried a inch or below and also stop animals from discovering it. Your water line goes up the tree trunk and into the top of your water res where its stored till the valves dump the water. Hoses/pumps you will probably need to take some figuring out, you need to have a small enough line to keep the water pressure up and a big enough pump to get it the distance while not pumping out more water then your bucket can hold (small worry really). You wont need to have it pump all the time so if it takes 5hours to slowly fill your water res's then thats no big deal as long as your battery can run it and recharge in time.

From your water res i would have some 1/2" or 1" drip line irrigation running to your plants with 1gph drip's or something like that, the great thing about this is that you dont need to have the tree fort far from your plants. Using the battery/solar panels to run your motors to turn the flow on and off to the plants. This can all be run on timers if you wanted so that once every 2-3 days your water pumps to the tree fort then 12hours later or however long you want the water is then to the plants and having your nutrients being added whenever you need them. You could run the lines from your water pump straight to your plants but i like the idea of having a place to store it and monitor it while you can also mix nutrients into it. Using subcool's super soil so you dont have to add nutrients and just having the water straight to the plants is the easiest way. Drippers can be skipped but i would worry about having all of my water flow out of the first few and never getting the last few the amount of water they need, mind you having it straight from the pump might cause to much pressure on the drippers but i have no experience with that

Getting it up to this point and having it flawless so it doesnt need to be monitored is very possible and shouldnt cost to much money wise as most parts could be found second hand. Its just going to involve a lot of work and getting your timers and making sure everything runs without you needing to be there.


Computer/webcams: From here it gets more difficult. You will have to do some research and testing to find out how long you can run a computer from a car battery using solar pannels to charge it. It shouldnt be to hard to have it stay in sleep mode and flip on when you need it so its not hogging all the power 24/7 but watch out for some basic problems like having a battery that is meant to work for a few hours and charge rather than always having a constant small power draw from it like you would with a computer in hibernate. Use a phone to "teather" to your computer with USB so you can use the internet or pick up a internet stick that plugs into the USB that most cellular places have (costs a couple hundred bucks along with monthly fee's). You can hook all your webcams up but they probably wont run while in sleep mode and you would need a huge harddrive to back it all up when really if your webcams don't turn on you know its been busted. You could set up some digital cameras with motion senors so if someone comes near it takes a picture and you can download those pictures by having it plugged into your computer with some long usb cords.

Hope it helps somewhat.
Please stop posting if you dont read the thread this is not a weed growing tree it is a robot sorry if you got confused...
 
You do realize a robot as pictured above ^^^ many times used by military & leo can cost upward of $300,000..without the specialized gear for whatever task is needed.


Not trying to kill any dreams.. but whynot start smaller.. .

Like building a machine that simultaneously cooks Eggs, toast & bacon, while pre-warming your plate.

um I realize that and 50% or more of that cost is for an engineer to design it....
but with that said robots are not hard to build even on a budget just takes knowledge of mechanics electronics pneumatics and a lil programming....
My niece just built a robot dog that walks on its own she is in the freakin 3rd grade...
my bot may be considered premative technology and out dated design by a professional building these $300,000+ robots
but i will assure you next few months or atleast by end of 2012 at the lastest this thread will have finished pics of it so you can see
I have been working on this for 3 or 4 months off and on and I am just now discussing it. I have researched this for many hours.
The reason for this thread is to find out what you rollitup guys know about robotics and to see if anyone has even heard of the same concept.
and apparently noone has... AS FOR YOUR POST RAWDUDSKI HOWS ABOUT WE LEAVE THE COOKING TO YOUR MOM AND SOMEONE POST SOMETHIN HELPFUL OR POSITIVE... I love to grow and i love to build things so why not combine these two loves in a way that can revolutionized the way I grow outdoors i mean yeah if I had a big basement and an extra $500 a month for my power bill i might try to buy 2 or 3 1000w MH and hps lights and run a real sea of green setup but i cant... plus the sun is free, the weather here is near perfect, creek water is plentiful, and there is plenty of woods around... I live on a big lake in the south east and there is a creek almost everywhere you go... the only problem i see is the DEA its alot easier for someone to spot a person walking in or out of the woods than it is for someone to actually walk out there and find a camo box 2 ft long and 1.5 ft wide resessed in the ground while not in use... they wood have to step on it accidentally while its parked or stumble upon it while it working. but here is a few things to keep in mind for future post...
1: In the event someone does come up while operating I would simply drive like a bat out of hell and hope i dont wreck haha
2: The electronics of driving this thing is complete (missing wheels thats it)
3: I know how to wire up almost any electronic device to my arduino and Then I can control it from pc.

4: Dont just say it wont work and be a dick about it... if you have some concerns of something failing in a certain situation ok but dont tell me i cant do it and dont say it wont work because simply enough-
I know what it takes to build this and make it work
and I AM SMARTER THAN YOUR AVERAGE POT HEAD...

WITH ALL THIS SAID THANKS FOR POSTING BUT PLEASE READ THE THREAD AND CHECK OUT MY PICS AND YOU WILL START TO SEE THIS UNFOLD
I know that it doesnt look like much but half of the parts are not pictured here yet and I dismantled it to prep the body work so I am going to work on it a little bit today and maybe take some more pics but for all that dont know this is a 10 min edited pic of what I am looking to build and I would like some ideas from people who have experience in robotic arms or tank tracks/wheels and suspenion...
Thanks that is all for now keep the post coming
 
Please look at pics before you post this is the plan and it shall not change think of it as a "rover" if you will growing a plant on mars
View attachment 2118157sprocket.jpg
not a good drawing but dam someone must get the picture...
Where you at grilledcheese and alotofpot?
 

dbkick

Well-Known Member
I've got a neat feature idea, if someone unauthorized even looks at it funny it launches a unmanned drone (since nobodies around) equipped with tomahawk missiles that blow the fuckers up.
 

BBbubblegum

Well-Known Member
Coding a software for that would be extremely difficult, but I would use Java. Get the info from one of those data collectors in the grow box. (Humidity temp etc.)
Have a large water storage connected to a pump and plastic tubing going into each medium of each plant ( Hydro would probably be alot easier because you can skip this step) Then just connect a webcam in the grow box connected to a live stream. There are way too many things that can go wrong though and idk if it will be worth it.
 

Whatstrain

Well-Known Member
Sorry airhead but i thought my idea would probably be a bit easier to go about then a robot. To each their own though so if you want problems then here some i could foresee. You're going to need enough power to transport a lot of water. Water is just a bit over 8lbs per gallon and each plant in the middle of the summer would need at least that. So if you have 5 plants that 5gallons or 41lbs. So there is one main problem of having to move that much, i think you will need to have some pretty beefy motors which if battery powered are going to need bigger batteries (more weight) and bigger panels to charge them. Distance is also your enemy with electric and if you go with gas powered then you get the power needed but you will need fuel. There is no reason you can have it running small amounts of water everyday but the more you run it the more problems are going to come up like wildlife coming across it or it getting stuck or a motor getting burned out. I would find out what wildlife is local though and build some deterrents for those animals like noise makers or high pitched sounds built into it along with some urine of whatever they would be afraid of (bears?).
 
Coding a software for that would be extremely difficult, but I would use Java. Get the info from one of those data collectors in the grow box. (Humidity temp etc.)
Have a large water storage connected to a pump and plastic tubing going into each medium of each plant ( Hydro would probably be alot easier because you can skip this step) Then just connect a webcam in the grow box connected to a live stream. There are way too many things that can go wrong though and idk if it will be worth it.
I learned java from stanford universities Professor Mehran Sahami and guess what
I just seen this thread about a robot that you could drive from your laptop and its being built to go out into the woods and grow weed and bring it back to you...
...look all I know is I wrote this thread here and you people cant read or som and I put 2 and 2 together and decided that your pissin me off...
ATHF
 
Sorry airhead but i thought my idea would probably be a bit easier to go about then a robot. To each their own though so if you want problems then here some i could foresee. You're going to need enough power to transport a lot of water. Water is just a bit over 8lbs per gallon and each plant in the middle of the summer would need at least that. So if you have 5 plants that 5gallons or 41lbs. So there is one main problem of having to move that much, i think you will need to have some pretty beefy motors which if battery powered are going to need bigger batteries (more weight) and bigger panels to charge them. Distance is also your enemy with electric and if you go with gas powered then you get the power needed but you will need fuel. There is no reason you can have it running small amounts of water everyday but the more you run it the more problems are going to come up like wildlife coming across it or it getting stuck or a motor getting burned out. I would find out what wildlife is local though and build some deterrents for those animals like noise makers or high pitched sounds built into it along with some urine of whatever they would be afraid of (bears?).
you good bro and yours may be a good idea but still im dead set on tryin this out and btw let it be known I grew 6 last year in one pot 2 months indoors with small 100w mh and 3 cfl lights and switched to outdoors and removed from pot buried with soil jabbed a few nute sticks around it like 2 inches from soil in red dirt. I then sprinkled animal repelant pellets everywhere 30 yards around them... then hit with seven dust and finally i pissed around it... 3 turned male so i killed them...
and the other three turned out fire as hell to be some bag seed... but main point of this story i grew just last year from may to november and only watered once or twice and pissed close to them not on them. And only couple leaves were yellowish so nute inbalance or possibly the roots had bad effects left from the dead males not to mention they sat 2 whole days in a giant suit case waiting to go outside lol...
plant.jpg
we have good summers her its humid as shit but its always like 80-90 degrees and it rains enough but even if we go a week without a good rain i got plans for this bot to carry 4 one quart gatorade bottles or somethin similar and ill have probably 5-10 plants in a zone and have maybe 5 to 10 zones all along staying close to a water source and vegetation should be around 4-5ft high around the immediate area around plants. with each plant seperate in a random pattern across maybe 50 yard zone... and each zone could be maybe 50 yards apart... then one might say its plausible to be able to go to creek or lake suck up a gallon of water thru active carbon filter passes thru a one way valve into bottles...
then a seperate pump would pull water from bottles out thru sprinkler head.
and a gallon could water 2 plants during veg and 1 during flower so if i worked on a zone per day for an hour or less I could easily handle some huge females stretched out over 3/4 of a mile. and 6 short months from now sweet cheeba... with each zone seperate by atleast 50 yards its driving distance if the bot can maintain battery power and if one zone is discovered im hoping they would be less likely to get them all but another problem with a grow this big wifi routers are limited in range i believe at best id be doin good to get 50 yards per router so it would be a little expensive to have 10+ cutsom made router boxes with solar panel, battery, low voltage timer, and router sealed inside maybe hidden in tree or somthin... but lets figure it out ill research routers and possible ways to amplify signal or increase the range the robot can connect to router... but at the least i would be satisfied with one zone and i wouldnt even mind having to go as close at 100-200 yards away to connect if needed but i rather not get to close but i could use my droid maybe its alot smaller than my $1800 17in msi gt780(although she is packin a intel ultimate-n 6300 agn wifi card) and over the course of the year i may buy as many routers and good batteries i can find ... along with solar panels of course...btw i think i could run a router off a 9v battery rechargable it could possibly work and make shit alot cheaper... SO. anyone know how to boost signals of wifi and/or a dam good router known for long ass range...
 

alotapot

Active Member
you good bro and yours may be a good idea but still im dead set on tryin this out and btw let it be known I grew 6 last year in one pot 2 months indoors with small 100w mh and 3 cfl lights and switched to outdoors and removed from pot buried with soil jabbed a few nute sticks around it like 2 inches from soil in red dirt. I then sprinkled animal repelant pellets everywhere 30 yards around them... then hit with seven dust and finally i pissed around it... 3 turned male so i killed them...
and the other three turned out fire as hell to be some bag seed... but main point of this story i grew just last year from may to november and only watered once or twice and pissed close to them not on them. And only couple leaves were yellowish so nute inbalance or possibly the roots had bad effects left from the dead males not to mention they sat 2 whole days in a giant suit case waiting to go outside lol...
View attachment 2118543
we have good summers her its humid as shit but its always like 80-90 degrees and it rains enough but even if we go a week without a good rain i got plans for this bot to carry 4 one quart gatorade bottles or somethin similar and ill have probably 5-10 plants in a zone and have maybe 5 to 10 zones all along staying close to a water source and vegetation should be around 4-5ft high around the immediate area around plants. with each plant seperate in a random pattern across maybe 50 yard zone... and each zone could be maybe 50 yards apart... then one might say its plausible to be able to go to creek or lake suck up a gallon of water thru active carbon filter passes thru a one way valve into bottles...
then a seperate pump would pull water from bottles out thru sprinkler head.
and a gallon could water 2 plants during veg and 1 during flower so if i worked on a zone per day for an hour or less I could easily handle some huge females stretched out over 3/4 of a mile. and 6 short months from now sweet cheeba... with each zone seperate by atleast 50 yards its driving distance if the bot can maintain battery power and if one zone is discovered im hoping they would be less likely to get them all but another problem with a grow this big wifi routers are limited in range i believe at best id be doin good to get 50 yards per router so it would be a little expensive to have 10+ cutsom made router boxes with solar panel, battery, low voltage timer, and router sealed inside maybe hidden in tree or somthin... but lets figure it out ill research routers and possible ways to amplify signal or increase the range the robot can connect to router... but at the least i would be satisfied with one zone and i wouldnt even mind having to go as close at 100-200 yards away to connect if needed but i rather not get to close but i could use my droid maybe its alot smaller than my $1800 17in msi gt780(although she is packin a intel ultimate-n 6300 agn wifi card) and over the course of the year i may buy as many routers and good batteries i can find ... along with solar panels of course...btw i think i could run a router off a 9v battery rechargable it could possibly work and make shit alot cheaper... SO. anyone know how to boost signals of wifi and/or a dam good router known for long ass range...
I have background in stationary industrial robotics (very SIMPLE and limited process equipment) video surveillance, hydroponic gardening. I'm an ex army mechanic so I do have a good understanding of tracked equipment (tanks, cranes.. etc) fluid power (pneumatics/hydraulics) as well I have basic air force electronics training.

This could be a really fun project... that actually could be "worth" something when/if it performs as I think it could (just imagine the potential headlines... "potheads design self guided *grobot* for use on the Red planet" LOL ).

At the moment I'm only addressing the wifi issue. You can get up top 15 kilometers with this wifi stick antenna http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-ANT2415D#over . The same company offers quite a few long range wireless solutions, tho some are quite directional and best suited for "fixed" installation.

I think you might want to consider going with a hydro system, that being said... I'm thinking of a coco run to waste type system. With this system all you would need to do is pump your nutrients to the plants.. NOT carry them. A simple "dose pump" would ensure the nutrient is mixed with the water at the proper strength... with coco in hempy buckets it's practically impossible to over feed/water your plants.

More to come... just bouncing ideas here right now..

alp
 

Matchbox

Well-Known Member
Seems like an interesting project mate! If your fully willing to finish/develop it, do it!

I think for one, your going to need a much bigger chassis for the amount of equipment your going to want. Not sure if your thinking more guerrilla gardening but you'll need a substantial water tank to carry enough water to feed however many plants. If possible you could skip the whole res part and just have a small mixing tank that doses the water, the machine could pull up to a river (or other water source) plant a hose in it and reel it out as it drives towards the grow area (assuming the grow is close to a river etc) and pump the water through the mixing tank and out of a spray nozzle, this would only require a mounted hose reel on the back with a reeling motor and save you all the space of a large res.

Or have said hose attach directly to a hose pipe outlet and have an electronic valve?

Tbh your going to have to face it, to build something as versatile as you need it's not going to be particularly stealthy lol :)

If your thinking about power, go for solar? and some dynamo's in the drive tracks that recharge the batteries as the wheels turn, it wont fully supplement the power but should be enough to keep it going alongside the solar.

Last thing I can think of for the moment is for your 'prototype' in that PC case, strip that laptop down to the bare minimum, you don't need a screen or anything, just the mobo, hdd, cpu, battery and other minor parts (not sure exactly what you need for your requirements). you can access it and have a 'screen' through a remote computer quite easily if you know anything about Linux and networking :D

Keep the dream alive man XD

Stay Frosty!
 
I have background in stationary industrial robotics (very SIMPLE and limited process equipment) video surveillance, hydroponic gardening. I'm an ex army mechanic so I do have a good understanding of tracked equipment (tanks, cranes.. etc) fluid power (pneumatics/hydraulics) as well I have basic air force electronics training.

This could be a really fun project... that actually could be "worth" something when/if it performs as I think it could (just imagine the potential headlines... "potheads design self guided *grobot* for use on the Red planet" LOL ).

At the moment I'm only addressing the wifi issue. You can get up top 15 kilometers with this wifi stick antenna http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?model=TL-ANT2415D#over . The same company offers quite a few long range wireless solutions, tho some are quite directional and best suited for "fixed" installation.

I think you might want to consider going with a hydro system, that being said... I'm thinking of a coco run to waste type system. With this system all you would need to do is pump your nutrients to the plants.. NOT carry them. A simple "dose pump" would ensure the nutrient is mixed with the water at the proper strength... with coco in hempy buckets it's practically impossible to over feed/water your plants.

More to come... just bouncing ideas here right now..

alp
you should put a 7.62 on it incase you get deer and varmits eating your weed
Seems like an interesting project mate! If your fully willing to finish/develop it, do it!

I think for one, your going to need a much bigger chassis for the amount of equipment your going to want. Not sure if your thinking more guerrilla gardening but you'll need a substantial water tank to carry enough water to feed however many plants. If possible you could skip the whole res part and just have a small mixing tank that doses the water, the machine could pull up to a river (or other water source) plant a hose in it and reel it out as it drives towards the grow area (assuming the grow is close to a river etc) and pump the water through the mixing tank and out of a spray nozzle, this would only require a mounted hose reel on the back with a reeling motor and save you all the space of a large res.

Or have said hose attach directly to a hose pipe outlet and have an electronic valve?

Tbh your going to have to face it, to build something as versatile as you need it's not going to be particularly stealthy lol :)

If your thinking about power, go for solar? and some dynamo's in the drive tracks that recharge the batteries as the wheels turn, it wont fully supplement the power but should be enough to keep it going alongside the solar.

Last thing I can think of for the moment is for your 'prototype' in that PC case, strip that laptop down to the bare minimum, you don't need a screen or anything, just the mobo, hdd, cpu, battery and other minor parts (not sure exactly what you need for your requirements). you can access it and have a 'screen' through a remote computer quite easily if you know anything about Linux and networking

Keep the dream alive man XD

Stay Frosty!
Great ideas guys finally some actual helpful information lets start from the top...
OK track system ive read a couple "rc tank combat" sites about different types of tracks.
Bike chain being the cheapest route i think I would take like 2 moutain bikes for each track and try to utilize the 2 small tension sprockets to keep her on track and tight and the bigger sprockets for front and back with like a 2in spacer but i would still probably need a few more bikes sprockets on hand and i dont know how i would make the suspension...
here quietness, reliability, and traction would be key here to reduce chances of being caught, making emergency rescues, and most of all we dont wanna get stuck out there...(must crawl over rocks and logs and go thru ditches. and most of all keep traction on wet ground due to raining and fetching water from creeks or lake)
And that brings me to the next topic WATERING SYSTEM
As for the idea of running hoses and wat not that would benifit a big grow but Im much more interested in reduced ammount of "things" laying out in the woods i see all the time on "grow op bust shows" where crops got busted just because of the hoses running from nearby water sources and what not...
with my idea of the 1(+/-) gallon of water i dont really see much of a problem watering 10-15 plants a day alternating zones daily while trying to water each plant ever other day or so (counting rainy days) which usually it rains from anywhere around 2-4 times a month(more or less depending on drought or rainy season) and usually when it does rain its more than one day its between 2-5 days a week (IN MOST CASES) Now I realize this is a mere estimate but with this I can say for sure it would be possible to maintain approx. 10-15 plants a day. Assuming that I could place each plant 50 or so yards from creek, have the sprayer able to empty res.(1 gallon) in1min, have maybe half gallon nute res. on board with "dose pump" (or something like those miracle sprayer you attach to garden hose) and the robot be capable of driving said distance and refill in 5mins(+/- 1 or 2 min) anyway
10 * (5+1) = (aprox)1 hr of operation per 10 plants.
With all this said I could water 10 plants a day driving back and forth.
But with a bigger res. this could be reduced down to maybe 30-45 mins of straight watering and take a few seconds at each plant to check leaves for decay/bugs and other aspecs...
SO... 1hr 10 plants a day. watering each every other day(or 2). I could take care of approx. 20-30 plants all season taking rainy days off...(I know alot of guesstimation)

as for...
(""I think you might want to consider going with a hydro system, that being said... I'm thinking of a coco run to waste type system. With this system all you would need to do is pump your nutrients to the plants.. NOT carry them. A simple "dose pump" would ensure the nutrient is mixed with the water at the proper strength... with coco in hempy buckets it's practically impossible to over feed/water your plants."")
I dont know how i would grow hydro in the woods with minimal equipment and only operate about 1-2 hrs a day...
but it would be sweet to do so...

as for the gun are you really serious... I original came accross this plan designing a tank with a paintball gun to wage wars from the internet but live with real people in real time but too many saftey features and programming but I could take my old single shot savage 12 ga and make an auto loader and make it
shoot by button press but what person their right mind would shoot a dam gun when they are trying to reduce attention...

sorry im a little scatter brained today lack of sleep(and narcolepsy) but i left out a few things
as for the hose on a reel idea it sounds very plausible to have a 75-100 yard fish tank type hose with a weight on the end drop it in the creek and drive pulling the hose out as need and with another pm dc motor attached for retrieval it maybe possible to even use this as an extra charging output...
track drive charging system sounds like a dam good idea to boost the charge and reduce power consumption but how would i build it (perm.magnet dc motor/altenator or p.m. and custom copper coil???)and would this cause strain on the drive train and cause it to wear out sooner or be weak + due to fact that it takes energy to make energy and
when you spin a motor its free but if something is putting a load on the motor (electricity from motor to charge controller to battery) it would make it work almost like a magnetic braking system if im right...

also yeah your right about stripping the laptop and mounting it permanently but i would have to build the mounts and what not so i may end up going this route although we are probably talkin about only like a couple inches max of benefit i think...

I only used UBUNTU 11.10 once in my life, on the laptop in the
robot its not installed now due to lag but i did it just to boot pc and extract files for a client and the laptop was just a gift for my help... but I had trouble tryin to find command info and understanding it im pretty decent when it comes to networking but linux might as well be writin in japanese

as for the router outdoor antenna that sounds like the right way to go...
but say i could set up a regular path and attached a gps attachment to my arduino for possible automatic selfdriving to creek and back to plants pausing and spraying for set time and being able to detect obstacles like trees rocks holes ditches and water levels to keep her safe...
like depth of water and slope of ground ahead but this all may be a lil too much to strive for on my budget of full time student i just make money where i can...

If we really put our minds to it and my handy skills I think it could be a pretty effecient robot and I dont think I would have to sacrifice to much stealth...
and think about this what if i could build an attachment trailer. it could be pulled to each different zone and park with a push button to hook/unhook hitch and house things like a plow attachment or other things...
but again thanks for your valued intel and what not, keep it coming!
 
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