12/17(Sat.) The Garden Robot ! (Host: Jennifer Yu)

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Laura
YOYO member
文章: 351
註冊時間: 週二 12月 16, 2003 10:28 am

12/17(Sat.) The Garden Robot ! (Host: Jennifer Yu)

文章 Laura »

**This article is cited from GVO magazine **

Earlier this year, FarmBot Genesis-a-do-it yourself, open source farming robot that claims to make growing your own food a breeze-was made available to the public for the first time. After FarmBot buyers receive their specially-built tracks and supporting infrastructure in the mail, they assemble the home gardening robot themselves. The company behind the system encourages users to experiment, prototype and hack their programs and share their findings with the greater FarmBot community. In many ways, FarmBot embodies the future of farming.

You may be thinking that it doesn’t take a robot, or a genius, to put some seeds in the dirt and water it occasionally. Anyone with the time and space can do it, but as the garden grows, things get more complicated. Time management is a major consideration and as resources become scarcer, mismanaged gardens and crops can have disastrous results; thus the rise of precision agriculture.

Precision agriculture is a form of farming that utilizes new technologies to use water, fertilizer and other resources more efficiently. The use of technology like aerial drones to keep an eye on larger swathes of crops and satellites to track weather patterns have started to replace seat-of-the-pants farming. Farmbot is an exciting innovation in the field of precision agriculture because it’s the first of its kind in terms of small scale size and availability to the everyday consumer.

Self-steering farm machinery is one example of precision farming that has rapidly grown in recent years. According to a survey conducted by Purdue University’s Center for Food and Agricultural Business, only 5% of agriculture retail outlets offered auto-steering machinery in 2004. By 2008, more than half of retailers were carrying them. This explosion is partly explained by the belief that GPS auto-steered farm equipment greatly reduces over-plowing, saving farmers time and money.

Other technologies that are gaining support from the agricultural community are robots that can calculate the exact amount of water a plant needs and robots that can precisely apply pesticides to troublesome areas. Such innovations have the potential to cut down on irrigation costs and reduce the amounts of fertilizer and chemicals used on crops, while simultaneously increasing yields.

Millennials have played a large role in supporting the growth of precision agriculture technologies. “The big story is the generational shift going on right now,” said Joe Russo, president of the agriculture technology company ZeDX. “The younger people are starting to get hold of these farms and they have a much different attitude to technology. They Twitter, they got smartphones, they’re always on the computer. Precision ag is gonna ride that wave.

While many hail precision agriculture as the future of farming and the food industry, there are observers who feel the broad use of precision technologies actually impedes the development of sustainable agriculture. With the exception of FarmBot, nearly all precision of FarmBot, nearly all precision farming equipment is heavy machinery. Because high-tech tools are quite costly, the average farmer is unable to pay for it. Instead, corporation like Monsanto foot the bill. “Precision farming is about commodification and control of information and it is among the high-tech tools that are driving the industrialization of agriculture, the loss of local farm knowledge and the erosion of farmers’ rights,” said Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group) Research Director Hope Shand.





Discussion Questions at Session 1:


1. How readily are you willing to accept new technologies into your life everyday life?
2. Any new robots have applied in our life? Do you think it useful and make us a better life?
3. Do you have any new idea for robot innovation?


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Discussion Questions at Session 2:

4. What are possible consequences of the loss of local farm knowledge and farmers’s right?
5. Does the creation of Artificial Intelligence worry you? Why or Why not?
6. What jobs do you think will be taken over by AI? Is your job under threat?


(Laura was the substitution for host )

*****************************************

Agenda:

3:45 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:15pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:15 ~ 5:55pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ************************************************************
聚會日期:列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間:請準時 4:00 pm 到 ~ 約 6:30 pm 左右結束
星期六聚會地點:丹堤濟南店
地址、電話:台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站:板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法:出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後,沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘,到了濟南路口,左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
最低消費: 80 元


注意事項:
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌,但與會者請務必自行列印 Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章,並仔細想過所有的問題,謝謝合作!


給新朋友的話:
1. 請事先準備2~3分鐘的英語自我介紹;會議結束前可能會請你發表1~2分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題,並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行,參加者應具備中等英語會話能力,對任一討論問題,能夠以5到10句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前,可以先來觀摩三次,觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交終身會費 NT$1,000。
最後由 Laura 於 週一 12月 19, 2016 8:23 pm 編輯,總共編輯了 1 次。
The best teacher is child,
the worst mistake for one is to abandon oneself,
the greatest treasure in the world is love!
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Laura
YOYO member
文章: 351
註冊時間: 週二 12月 16, 2003 10:28 am

Re: 12/17(Sat.) The Garden Robot ! (Host: Jennifer Yu)

文章 Laura »

Weather is good enough ! :cccry:
最後由 Laura 於 週六 12月 17, 2016 12:47 pm 編輯,總共編輯了 1 次。
The best teacher is child,
the worst mistake for one is to abandon oneself,
the greatest treasure in the world is love!
頭像
Laura
YOYO member
文章: 351
註冊時間: 週二 12月 16, 2003 10:28 am

Re: 12/17(Sat.) The Garden Robot ! (Host: Jennifer Yu)

文章 Laura »

I have to join this meeting, :ccry:

What a meaningful topic !
The best teacher is child,
the worst mistake for one is to abandon oneself,
the greatest treasure in the world is love!
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