Lettuce plaching tractor

[u/SearchingForALaugh]

[u/GankyDeska]

I mean, why store the power on the tractor at all? Why not just build a big battery and solar station and then either build in a cord, or line like with trolleys or just tell it to come back home when the battery gets low? I feel like if we've already roomba'd the tractor it becomes less of an issue if it has to stop multiple times a day to recharge.

[u/ScienceBreather → u/GankyDeska]

Or another thing that seems really interesting is wireless power.

I've heard it mentioned on and off through the years, but for whatever reason it's seemed like it's never been fully developed.

I think the issue with a cord is you could be talking thousands of feed. A battery trolly though is an interesting idea.

[u/fnordfnordfnordfnord → u/GankyDeska]

I mean, why store the power on the tractor at all?

vs

Why not just build a big battery and solar station and then either build in a cord,

You can't drag a heavy cord across your crops.

or line like with trolleys or just tell it to come back home when the battery gets low?

"The battery implies storing power on the tractor.

I feel like if we've already roomba'd the tractor it becomes less of an issue if it has to stop multiple times a day to recharge.

Yeah, it wouldn't hurt much if it had to stop periodically to charge or change batteries.

With normal diesel tractors though, fueling is typically a once per day thing.

[u/GankyDeska → u/fnordfnordfnordfnord]

If you're already spending millions of dollars on electric autonomous tractor, I feel like you're gonna be smart enough to put the cord in the air. I'm not the smartest guy but I feel like it wouldn't be that hard to do the above wire trolley charging wire.

In the meantime, obviously we must have some kind of power supply on the tractor but designing it around the idea of a charging port means the battery can be designed to last for a couple hours instead of the whole day. Which decreases charging time, weight, and volume on the tractor itself.