Posted November 9, 2009 at 6:29pm
Robots Taking Over the Garden - Computer Scientists Send Robots to the Garden to Tend to Tomato Plants
Computer scientists engineered small robots that tend to tomato plants. The robots can determine when a plant needs water or when tomatoes are ripe for harvesting- and then follow up by carrying out the necessary action. Sensors in the plant soil indicate their locations to the robots, and humidity sensors determine the level of moisture in the soil. Once a task is completed, the robots can audibly describe what’s been done. A mounted camera enables the robot to report how many tomatoes are on the plant and when it is ready for picking.
video available at site.
Posted November 9, 2009 at 6:20pm
Gardening Therapy
~ There are only so many hours per day that you can search for work. After 3 or 4 hours of searching and applying for jobs, I start to get really depressed. But I may have found a good way to balance that. Today, instead of starting my day sitting at the computer to look for work, I’m gardening instead. There are countless flower beds on this property which haven’t been properly tended in a couple of years now. I’ve been haphazardly working on them but I think I am going to make working on them part of my daily routine for as long as the weather allows. My Mom would probably be very surprised at this behavior, I never really liked yard work. Maybe I need to give credit to my dear friend Cindy. This time last year she drove down to visit me and we worked on my yard and something shifted in my attitude. Even before that I started thinking about gardening as more a Zen thing than a chore and over the past couple of years I’ve observed Cindy get such personal satisfaction from her gardens. It helps to keep your mind in the moment (which is always good for depression, stress, and worrying), the exercise is good, everyone needs a little bit of sunshine / vitamin D per day, the cats and dog keep me company, and when I’m finally ready to call it quits I have lovely, visible results from my hard work. After a shower and some lunch I was ready to go back to the job search tasks. So thanks Cindy - wish you were here ;-)
Posted November 9, 2009 at 6:19pm
“In our busy lives, we often forget that there is more along the way than just bills to pay, phone calls to return, and errands to run. There are people in our lives who need to be hugged, who need to be loved. There are people in our lives who need their accomplishments noticed and praised… We need to remember that a heart is like a garden that needs to be tended to and nourished with what only another heart can give —- love and appreciation, devotion and honesty.”
— Tracia Gloudemans
Posted November 9, 2009 at 6:02pm
