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The Perfect Killer

Research for an automated and clean weeder

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The idea is very simple:
- avoid chemicals when removing unwanted weeds from a farm/garden
- instead, use a mechanical remover for the unwanted weeds
- do it often and in an automated way, so the weeds will never have enough time to grow

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ken.do wrote 04/23/2017 at 12:15 point

Nice. With a name like Perfect Killer you may want to include at least one laser... :) I have a background in horticulture, and yes most weeds can be controlled by plucking early. There are some that are persistant if even a small portion of the roots are left behind, but they too will be suppressed and eventually killed through repeated top kill. Look forward to seeing what you come up with

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RoGeorge wrote 04/24/2017 at 12:41 point

Thanks, I learned about clickbait titles from the best (best == hackaday.com).
:o)

Yes, the idea should work, but when I try to apply the idea in practice, it's way more complicated then I thought it would be.

For the moment, I'm just waiting for some inspiration to strike while literally playing in the dirt.

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ken.do wrote 04/24/2017 at 16:48 point

What complications are you running into? 

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RoGeorge wrote 04/24/2017 at 17:09 point

One problem is it takes too long. Taking out the weeds one by one might work for a very small garden, but not for a big field full of crop. Another problem is to simply move on the field. Sometimes is mud, sometimes is dry, sometimes is a flat lands, other times is a slope, and so on.

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Morning.Star wrote 03/28/2017 at 10:49 point

Me too. I'm curious how you're going to identify weeds from veggies, or are you using planned path for the mechanism and veg? (A weed is a plant growing in the wrong place according to some. In front of the weeder sounds like a bad place to be lol.)

Good luck 2017 :-)

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RoGeorge wrote 03/28/2017 at 13:44 point

Same to you, good luck, and thanks!
:o)

Yes, the idea is to have a very precise positioning system for the weeder machine. The planting is also done by a machine, so the robot knows exactly where the required plants are located. 

Any plant that grows at an unknown position is considered unwanted. That way, all the robot has to do is to identify any green plant and it's position. Visual recognition of the plants is not required.

Once I'll have some pictures from the field, I will add more details and some description about the motivation that started this experiment.

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Dr. Cockroach wrote 03/28/2017 at 09:07 point

I have had many a veg garden and weeding without chem is backbreaking to say the least. Want to see more of this later :-)

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RoGeorge wrote 03/28/2017 at 13:52 point

These are very good news (the fact that it can be done without chemicals, not the backbreaking :o), because my great concern is not how to recognize the unwanted plants, but the possibility to remove them mechanically and with a low energy cost, without plowing the whole field.

Here, the spring has just arrived, so I can start experimenting. My knowledge about gardening is limited, so I'm very curios if the weeds can be kept under control by removing them as soon as they sprout.

Will see
:o)

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