[PennRobotics]

This project has been around nearly ten years. They've sold hundreds (or possibly thousands) and raised well over a million dollars. Looking through their forum, I'd guess they continually identify faulty parts (O-rings, moisture sensor, belt alignment) and improve these in successive designs. They make effective suggestions for maintenance and replacement of parts.

I do believe this won't necessarily save someone time. It probably just turns two hours of vegetable gardening per week into one hour of vegetable gardening plus one hour of robot gardening. I believe there are enough people in the world who enjoy gardening their mechatronics for this to have a respectable future, but I agree that it will never compete with any commercial venture

... unless someone invents an OpenCV saffron stigma identifier.

[musingsole]

Everyone's always bitter how technology's stepping stones fit into particular niches and manage to eek by -- providing inspiration for better systems to come when there is a proper problem and ecosystem to support them isn't enough for these types. It's like questioning the purpose and validity of the moonshot.

[daddylongstroke]

Well, "these types" have lived long enough to recognize that the solution proposed is itself a part of the problem. We need less robotics and hands off farming for healthy nutritious and sustainable food production, not more.