FarmBot – Agriculture, Engineering, Robotics, Programming – An Entire STEM Curriculum in One Machine

If you’re familiar with CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining, CNC routers or even 3D printers, you’ll, immediately see what FarmBot is, it’s a CNC farming machine for raised gardens. It’s obviously overkill for small plots like these, but it’s perfect for anyone or any school that wants to learn or teach students about the many different kinds of knowledge and skill that go into it’s design and operation.

What does FarmBot do?

FarmBot will help you lay out your garden, then plant the seeds, irrigate the plants as needed, find and remove weeds and then, you harvest your crop when it’s ready. Of course, it’s easy to do that without all of this equipment, but doing it by hand means you don’t learn about the technology.

It’s open source

The company building FarmBot made the project open source, which means all of the CAD files for making the parts and all of the software that runs it can be examined and modified. FarmBot comes in two sizes, Genesis and Genesis XL, and they sell kits 90 percent assembled so you can be up and running in an hour or two, but you can also use the files to make your own parts in whatever size you want, even 3D printing them so you have spares if one breaks or if you want to build several for your garden.

The computer used is a Raspberry Pi, running FarmBot OS, a custom version of Linux and the controller on the gantry is an Arduino, a single board microcontroller. This is one example of how my previous articles on the Raspberry Pi and Linux can tie together. Single board microcomputers running open source software make all sorts of things possible.

Great for students or anyone who wants to learn

A student is likely to be far more interested in learning and mastering technical subjects if they see a direct application. Learning CAD (computer aided design) software can be challenging, but if they see how to design parts for something like this, it might motivate them to try a little harder and see even more applications. Computer programming can also be difficult, but seeing how the code makes this gantry move in the real world helps a lot and it can spark a desire to dig deeper and learn more.

In North East, where agriculture is a big part of our community, students can learn about soil science and experiment with how the FarmBot might alter moisture content, fertilizer application, weed control and more, then measure output versus input to see what works best.

Schools need to think outside the box

Schools could look around to see how a new model of learning might work, with high tech and low tech, with open source software and hardware, where students are engaged in learning about current and future technology, or they can spend money the old way, throwing millions of dollars at plastic grass for the football field which does nothing for academic achievement or preparing students for the work and career world of tomorrow. We know where the NE School District has chosen to go thus far, but maybe a few thought seeds like this one will take root and stimulate a little out of the box thinking going forward.

Check it out:
FarmBot
FarmBot for schools