Priorities

# #1: Femto (DIY kit)

## + Features
- Bolt-on module to a DIY barn/pen; will support salatin-style tractors
- Automation that's fit for leaving for a weekend
- Mounting for water tank (as ballast)

## ? How
- Basic automation of movement
	- Timer-based?
	- Odometry?
- Basic automation of steering
	- Set-it-and-forget-it ...
	- "Manual vision" (networked camera for aiming, manually pick a target)
	- Coulters?
	- Corn/row crop feelers?
- Mounting for water
- Solar panel, charger, onboard battery
- Pushbutton / LCD interface on-device
- Slow-mode manual vision

## - Probable Limitations
- No auto-turn-around

## ! Problems
- Balance of the barn
- Front-end 'mow through' ability
- 

## Development path
- Majorly refine steering system - $2000 of materials, ??? time
	- Motors / electric actuators - $1000
	- Frame - $500
- Solidify drive system - $2000 of materials, ??? time
- Spec motors and jack and get suppliers - $2000 of materials, ??? time
- Develop electronics - $2000 of materials, ??? time
- App development
- Handoff to electronics CMs
- Handoff to hardware CMs
- Find beta-test farmers

8hr sit down and make the perfect design from scratch
16hr find the best components
8hr dfm that shit and make drawings
16hr build the thing, $1000 of materials
2hr install that shit

-> 1st prototype in 50hr + $1k

5hr go back to the drawing board again and fix it
5hr dfm the hell out of it
16hr build the thing again

-> 2nd prototype in 24hr + $600

16hr design the awesome control board bang it out in kicad
5hr agonize over the control box
8hr build it all

-> 1st electrical prototype in 30hr + $500




# #2: Pico (Chickens only)

### + Features
- Same drive module as the Femto
- Really nice robust chicken tractor

### Development path
- All the stuff in femto plus:
- Develop electronics
- Redesign frame with cost-down in mind
- 

# #3: Nano (Small multispecies for intercropping)

### + Features
- Metal barn
- Pigs on slats
- Sheep in front
- Chickens in back
- Interfaces with standard panels so you can add width
- 4WD platform. Keep weight on the drive tires.

### Development path
- 

# Steering
Ways to do steering:
- Vision: drive towards a flag / pole
- Vision: drive towards ground markers
- Vision: drive along a painted line
- Vision: drive along a mowed path *so much SWE effort...*
- "Corn head" feelers (can this work in a broadacre setup somehow?)
- Taut tether
- Wheel encoder feedback
- Dig a trench
- TOF Triangulation
- GPS / RTK *can you set up your own RTK base station? Probably. *
- Follow a buried wire
- Coulters / stabilizer wheels
- Coulters *with pressure sensors*
- Ridge-till

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0lvag00HYY

Remember you're only using steering a small portion of the time. You *could* use a floodlight in conjunction with retroreflective tape.

This should be non-obnoxious though.
# Telemetry
- Why have telemetry? Lets you know if the barn is stuck. Lets you force a move. Maybe you want cameras?
- Need long range, but not a lot of bandwidth (unless you want video)
- WiFi isn't the right solution for this, LoRa is
- Have a LoRa base-station in your office/shed... this could be an internet gateway or a PC-link...
# Hold the presses. Stop it all. Everything.

Make a walker.

Lots of advantages. So many
Big problem is how do you turnaround / tow it
And maybe the answer there is "tow it" for the farmer but not for the homesteader
_omnidirectional walking mechanism?_

hey lol remember the _screw drive?_ The one Fordson made. Maybe for the nano