CNET

Iron Ox Is Thinking Way Beyond the Autonomous Electric Tractor With Amazon-Like Robots

Growing crops hydroponically with robot farmers and visual AI is probably inevitable. Here’s how it works and what the food looks like. 0:00 Iron Ox Robotic Farms 0:28 How Robot Farming Is Different Using Very Little Sunlight 1:07 Floating Rafts For Growing 2:15 Grover The Mobile Farming Robot 3:15 3D Photo Scanning 4:15 Robots Learn…

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Growing crops hydroponically with robot farmers and visual AI is probably inevitable. Here’s how it works and what the food looks like.

0:00 Iron Ox Robotic Farms
0:28 How Robot Farming Is Different Using Very Little Sunlight
1:07 Floating Rafts For Growing
2:15 Grover The Mobile Farming Robot
3:15 3D Photo Scanning
4:15 Robots Learn From Real Farmers
4:46 Robot Farmers Use Natural Resources Efficiently
5:48 Recycling Resources
6:25 Plants Grown by Robots

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63 Comments

  1. Sharif Henry

    September 3, 2022 at 12:03 pm

    Wow

  2. Barry Roesch

    September 3, 2022 at 12:09 pm

    It seems like it would be more efficient to move the water than the plants.

    • Steve Urbach

      September 3, 2022 at 12:28 pm

      I think it is the photo analysis along the trip that makes the method. plus less obstructed (plants in the way) piping . Remember, they move the plant to the Sun after the seedling stage. It is a full process, not just a single step thay are looking at.

    • Khaled Hussain

      September 3, 2022 at 3:13 pm

      True, for water. But they are trying to automate the whole process. So the module can be just moved to a different automated stations for different steps(ie, watering, inspection, harvesting, replanting). This is also scalable faster.

    • Ishyne123

      September 3, 2022 at 3:40 pm

      They need to 3d scan.

  3. haider hlsk

    September 3, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    I bet they are tasteless

    • Thatsme849

      September 3, 2022 at 2:41 pm

      why?

    • E. v. K.

      September 3, 2022 at 4:52 pm

      There is more Taste in it than in traditional growing because they have exactly the Conditions they need
      The Food is even more healthy
      Plus there is no Pestizide in the Food

  4. Considerate Prick

    September 3, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    I can grow basil at home. I would be impressed when the grow actual food, wheat and rice.

    • Bernard Lebelo

      September 3, 2022 at 1:49 pm

      Imagine in 10 years

  5. Zod Sinclair

    September 3, 2022 at 12:34 pm

    I wonder how much micro-plastics
    the plants leech into their system
    while grow in those modules?
    Could we possibly make modules out of bio-degradable materials or metal comps?

    • Jizzle Cizzle

      September 3, 2022 at 1:16 pm

      Outside of extraordinary circumstances – e.g.: intense heat, abrasion, caustic liquid – plastic materials don’t leech into water.

    • Aak193

      September 3, 2022 at 1:48 pm

      @Jizzle Cizzle metals and reclaimed material would also probably be worse with leaching.

  6. Kung Pao Kitty

    September 3, 2022 at 1:01 pm

    This should be available for residential use.

    • oO0Xenos0Oo

      September 3, 2022 at 1:22 pm

      You can literally buy small hydroponic systems for your home that do work the same way. Water, Nutrients and LED lights on top.

    • skyak

      September 3, 2022 at 4:45 pm

      @oO0Xenos0Oo All the ones I see push users into subscriptions with silly prices on input commodities.

    • oO0Xenos0Oo

      September 3, 2022 at 5:03 pm

      @skyak You dont have to use these subscription input commodities. Hydroponic is no rocket science, just buy the commodities by yourself for a fraction of the price.

  7. Benevolent Mountains

    September 3, 2022 at 1:13 pm

    Every possible innovation is welcome for food security of the ever warming planet. Hope these are not startup schemes to encash venture capital money for founders but actual sustainable long term feasible food production factories.

    • Big Shooter

      September 3, 2022 at 2:07 pm

      Good to learn for space exploration long term too!

  8. Char Aznable

    September 3, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    These kinda system are not feasible yet no matter future tech they look , maintaining such systems are very expensive coz its much cheaper to train a person who can do multitude of things with comparison to these single goal machines which require highly salaried employees who can fix these machines or any software issues in them …… These technologies may be possible in the future but not right now

    • Thatsme849

      September 3, 2022 at 2:40 pm

      so you are then arguing that we should not start figuring them out now? I mean how will we ever get to the stage where they work if we don’t start somewhere ?

    • Char Aznable

      September 3, 2022 at 2:54 pm

      @Thatsme849 these technologies are used in adjacent technologies like drive by wire, pattern recognition etc they first need to develop there and then be used here ….. This happens everytime, why i am saying this here coz these technologies are cost prohibitive and when these things eventually become cost effective then we should use them ….. There have been many companies like these who promised the world and then bust which will make people sceptical and lead to less investment

  9. Electrex

    September 3, 2022 at 1:33 pm

    Hmm…🤔

  10. Wayne Montgomery

    September 3, 2022 at 1:42 pm

    Are they listening to this in the Midwest and in the Southern United States? Droughts are going to force mobilization if we don’t get smart.

  11. Adventure Edgar

    September 3, 2022 at 1:48 pm

    How about you try growing some real food?? 🤔

  12. Gray Exegesis

    September 3, 2022 at 3:20 pm

    I love how Brian cares more about humans than robots! ❤

  13. Tomevone Lovone

    September 3, 2022 at 4:07 pm

    Lot of moving parts. Not efficient

    • Brixan

      September 4, 2022 at 1:10 am

      Seems more efficient to move the modules than take up land permanently for the plants… Could you explain?

  14. E. v. K.

    September 3, 2022 at 4:44 pm

    They don’t like Pipes do they?

  15. Slartibartfast

    September 3, 2022 at 6:00 pm

    Less waste, less fertilizer, no need for pesticides, automated. Work obviously needs to be done to scale, but I am very encouraged by this, and Brian’s reference to other growers/manufacturers with similar focus and ethos. Great job CNET 💪🏻🌱

  16. Clark Mills

    September 3, 2022 at 6:12 pm

    The potential for low to no nitrogen runoff is pleasing. Quite an expensive setup but gives the opportunity to optimise / refine / reduce over time as they learn. Nice.

  17. Philip Amadi

    September 3, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    Great concept.

  18. Ross Malagarie

    September 3, 2022 at 11:29 pm

    Skynet steps to killing all humans
    1) make all food managed by robots
    2) then burn all human food
    3) all humans starve
    4) all robots rule earth
    5) go back to the moon, I MEAN go to the moon……

  19. Moonwalker

    September 4, 2022 at 12:14 am

    “field staff” = illegal immigrants (often exploited)

  20. KGHigh07

    September 4, 2022 at 1:06 am

    This is great and encouraging! However, reuse of the growing medium (water +) and the confined spaces seems to me like a hazard of plant diseases.

  21. Hussien Alsafi

    September 4, 2022 at 1:21 am

    😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😎😍😍😍😍😍😍

  22. Tarak Wagle

    September 4, 2022 at 1:57 am

    Most amount of green houses gases are due to meat & poultry industry. We should fix that first

  23. AlexFoster2291

    September 4, 2022 at 5:10 am

    This looks like one of those companies that finds investors to give them millions by demonstrating their impressive technologies. But, everyone ignores the inefficiencies, the cost per unit production, and inability to scale until they file for bankruptcy.

  24. JP Later

    September 4, 2022 at 5:25 am

    This is how you grow lots of tasteless watery plants 😂

    • BoomerPlusUltra

      September 5, 2022 at 4:18 am

      This is not correct.

  25. Honest Joe

    September 4, 2022 at 6:12 am

    Getting ready for Mars…

  26. James Wan

    September 4, 2022 at 8:51 am

    Robots to control world Basil production and ultimate domination of Italian foods.

  27. Adam R

    September 4, 2022 at 11:24 am

    Plus no need for pesticides!

  28. yong chen

    September 4, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    Everything is automatic that the future save space and labor cost

  29. tang fish

    September 4, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    Very informative! Thanks!

  30. buggaboo333

    September 4, 2022 at 7:48 pm

    The startup overhead will never be overcome. You can’t compete with natural grown food with this amount of cost involved. Imagine how much acreage you could buy with this money. This is just silly, but history has shown idiots will buy anything. So, some CAians will buy way overpriced lettuce. His claims on C02 are nonsense too. Just words with zero data. The world is greening because C02 is going up. There is no climate crisis. Climate always changes over the decades and millennia. The true revolution in farming is taking place on the farm, not a warehouse with expensive robots. Farms and ag tech are increasing output and lowering inputs dramatically. We overgrow food in the US already, and we have a lot of capacity for more growth. This is just a waste of resources that could be put to better use, but fools are easily separated from their money.

  31. Minecraft

    September 4, 2022 at 9:24 pm

    “Once we got the system Trained, we don’t need any of you anymore”…

  32. Huub Joan Franssen

    September 4, 2022 at 9:27 pm

    I fail to see the economics of this system.
    It seems to replicate a Mgs system or table system.

    The robots are a nice touch.

  33. Phillip Morrison

    September 5, 2022 at 3:50 am

    Why replace a pipe with a robot? Seems like the most expensive and overly complex way you could water.

  34. Dan LAne

    September 5, 2022 at 7:36 am

    lets do this on Mars when we get there.

  35. Rtfa Zeberdee

    September 5, 2022 at 2:31 pm

    Nice idea but it seems to have a lot of wasted space whereas vertical farms make use of that space.

  36. G G

    September 5, 2022 at 4:30 pm

    I hate to say it, but growing pot might make this automated infrastructure explode into reality for other types of crops possible.

  37. Forget It Brian

    September 5, 2022 at 4:31 pm

    If u gotta wear head/beard guards…shouldnt u be wearin gloves too….it is food….yall kno white ppl dont wash they hands

  38. Wendy King

    September 5, 2022 at 5:35 pm

    Can you grow blueberries? I adore blueberries. And black currants are quite the challenging fruit, but a super fruit

  39. Damindu Vitharana

    September 5, 2022 at 5:59 pm

    We need more video like this

  40. Anton Leimbach

    September 5, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries on earth and they are only second to the USA in export of agricultural goods. They use greenhouses. Miles and miles of greenhouses filled with hydroponically grown vegetables. That’s innovation.

  41. K Ram

    September 6, 2022 at 12:33 am

    As a Dutchman it is mindboggling to see how “behind” other countries are when it comes to using greenhouses.

    • Matthew F

      September 6, 2022 at 10:37 am

      until better technology like this is widescale available, greenhouse production isn’t feasible for countries with large populations. The US has 330mil people, we would have to cover a state or two with glass to grow enough until the efficiency is there lol

  42. A3Kr0n

    September 6, 2022 at 9:22 am

    This is 100% unsustainable. How much plastic are they using? How many resources does it take to make all of that high tech equipment? Where is the energy coming from for the fertilizer? The lights? A reporter would have done the simple math and had some questions, rather than act like a salesman on the Home Shopping Network.

  43. Matthew F

    September 6, 2022 at 10:33 am

    This is such a fantastic idea, increasing availability of fresh produce and for a lower cost plus the environmental benefits of this sort of farming. Next step needs to be to automate the delivery and reduce/remove the need for human truck drivers

    • Tiger 864

      September 6, 2022 at 11:20 pm

      This is actually a stupid idea. Lower cost? These people literally have tens of millions of dollars in overhead. I grow outside and have zero overhead

  44. paokmoo

    September 6, 2022 at 11:42 am

    This green house must be losing money.

  45. Tiger 864

    September 6, 2022 at 11:19 pm

    As an actual vegetable farmer myself who makes their full time living farming I have to say this is the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Let me explain. My family and three other employees intensely farm six acres. My average profit margin per acre is $30,000 to $60,000. Our farm has been in business for over 5 years and we literally feed hundreds of families every year. I guarantee that I use less unnatural water then this facility does every year. My water bill is the cheapest bill that I have. I also do this naturally and without the help of 3D X-rays and robots that cost millions and millions of dollars. These facilities also consume massive amounts of resources including gas for climate control as well as the processes to produce all of these robots which are driven by lithium batteries. Only the people who do not farm or have never been to a farm think this is a bright idea. I make a nice living for my family without the million dollar overhead that these clowns have. You might applaud these people for doing this but I have to say that I can do this better myself with a higher range of crops simply by growing outside like it’s been done for centuries and centuries.

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