At the height of the pandemic, Ethan Rublee left Silicon Valley to transition from robot builder to farmer in Watsonville, Cal. He was quickly confronted with the limitations of tractors and traditional farming equipment in critical tasks like weeding or harvesting. The attraction to make it better captivated his mind and creativity.
Nearby neighbor, Larry Jacobs of Jacobs Del Cabo, a grower of basil, cherry tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and squash, has had the same challenges for over 40 years. Larry’s diverse crops required a huge variety of tools, and his team often found working without tractors more efficient.
This inspired the collaboration between Larry and Ethan to build something better and the farm-ng Amiga was born. Together with the continuous feedback of a tested customer, a cost-effective, multi-purpose adaptable robot to the needs of the farm was created.
The Amiga is an all-electric, modular platform with attachments for autonomy, traction, seating, and tools like lifts or motors. Farmers can easily customize attachments to fit their needs and adjust the machine’s dimensions for different row widths and heights. While its open-source design encourages collaboration among farmers, welders, and software engineers.
Read more at agdaily.com