Netizen

Tuesday, September 09, 2014

Robotic Farming

This robot blends in. It looks like a small tractor.

A Nimble-Wheeled Farm Robot Goes to Work in Minnesota

Corn is planted on 100 million acres in the United States, and nitrogen fertilizer runoff is a major pollution problem. .... GPS-guided tractors routinely apply seed and fertilizer across large areas, and new airborne drones are providing farmers with high-resolution sensing ability ..... the ability to apply fertilizer at precise times and locations is “very critical.” ..... The next step is to deploy multiple Rowbots on industrial-scale farms, and to add more sensing capacity to the machines. The company is also testing using them for planting seed on cornfields for fall crops, called cover crops, while the mature corn is still standing.

Agricultural Drones

the vanguard of farmers who are using what was once military aviation technology to grow better grapes using pictures from the air, part of a broader trend of using sensors and robotics to bring big data to precision agriculture.

Sapphire Screens

I believe that 11% figure. It is probably an underestimate. A phone case is also a solution, the one I use.

Sapphire Screens Would Test Apple’s Manufacturing and Design Skills

According to one estimate, 11 percent of all iPhones have cracked screens. ..... virtually unscratchable, unbreakable screens could make for a compelling marketing campaign. .... The company’s decision to invest about $700 million in an industrial sapphire plant in Arizona starting last year has added considerable weight to the theory. ..... Sapphire is already used in small amounts to make scratch-resistant screens for luxury watches, and Apple uses small pieces of sapphire to protect the camera and the home button on the iPhone 5S. .... sapphire’s high cost has limited its applications; although new ways of growing sapphire crystals have made it cheaper to produce in recent years, it’s still roughly five times more expensive than toughened glass. ..... second only to diamond on a standard scale of hardness ..... Some types of cutting and polishing can introduce defects into the material that make it easier to break than glass.