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Chip the Walnut Farmer — Parallax Forums

Chip the Walnut Farmer

Ken PetersonKen Peterson Posts: 806
edited 2008-08-28 02:27 in Propeller 1
This may be a little OT, but I ran across the article.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/17/news/17sqft.php

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·"I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.· My wish has come true.· I no longer know how to use my telephone."

- Bjarne Stroustrup
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Comments

  • QuattroRS4QuattroRS4 Posts: 916
    edited 2008-08-25 12:23
    Very nice ... Best of luck with that Chip !

    Regards,
    John Twomey

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  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2008-08-25 13:43
    yeah good luck with that Chip [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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    ·
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-08-25 14:20
    Way cool! Prehaps the west coast propeller expo should be held "down on the farm".

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.

    www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
    www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
    www.tdswieter.com
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,246
    edited 2008-08-25 17:36
    Timothy D. Swieter said...
    Way cool! Prehaps the west coast propeller expo should be held "down on the farm".

    We have many 110+F days here in the summer, but from fall to spring it's very pleasant. We've got a 4400-square-foot shop building (or barn) we could set up in, plus plenty of 'parking' space. Red Bluff is cheap to visit, too. We could do some great BBQ'ing here.·This place is 125 miles north of Rocklin (Parallax).

    P.S. That article was a little misleading, as they kind of fit me into their agenda of telling a story of someone who got "stung" in the markets, fled to a hopeful safe-haven in agriculture (where he hopes to make big returns), and then "discovered" how nice being in the country is. That was all backwards: I hardly pay any attention to the stock market (though I have been monitoring the·housing blowout with perverse fascination). Getting into farming has been something I've·thought about·for a long time. The main goal here was to move my family to·a farm where we could grow some tree crop, have some space, and be able to do everything that was verboten in the suburbs, like have animals, ride around on an ATV, shoot a gun, etc. For this to work, we needed to find·a·property·that·would cash-flow, in order to slowly pay for itself. If we could find the right property, we'd put all our cash into it, and then have the crop proceeds reimburse the·mortgage and farming costs, with some surplus left over for orchard·redevelopment. It took almost a year to find something that was·worthwhile, then·four months to close·the deal. I explained all this·to the NYT, but it was as futile as an actor suggesting a plot change to during filming.

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    Chip Gracey
    Parallax, Inc.

    Post Edited (Chip Gracey (Parallax)) : 8/25/2008 9:30:15 PM GMT
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2008-08-25 17:38
    I saving for a plane ticket NOW!

    It's my turn to burn with desire to be at an expo! [noparse]:)[/noparse] [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    OBC

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  • RaymanRayman Posts: 14,825
    edited 2008-08-25 17:54
    I always thought Chip was nuts!
  • BaggersBaggers Posts: 3,019
    edited 2008-08-25 17:56
    yeah, OBC, I'd save for a plane ticket to one down on Chip's farm too [noparse];)[/noparse] go for it Chip lol

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    ·
  • simonlsimonl Posts: 866
    edited 2008-08-25 19:43
    So, how long before the first robot walnut harvester then Chip?!

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    Cheers,

    Simon
    www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk
    You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
    BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style smile.gif
  • lonesocklonesock Posts: 917
    edited 2008-08-25 20:02
    Chip Gracey (Parallax) said...
    ...Red Bluff...
    Hey I live in Redding, so count my vote for an "on the farm" Expo! Great BBQ'ing doesn't hurt either... [noparse][[/noparse]8^)

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    lonesock
    Piranha are people too.
  • jazzedjazzed Posts: 11,803
    edited 2008-08-25 20:27
    I-5 is a beautiful highway ... lots of diversity. Tons of orchards and hay. How does one get from Red Bluff to Rocklin though ? Ca 44 and 36 must be like roller-coasters. Really suprizing how hot Redding gets. The smoke from the fires was annoying. Otherwise it seems like a nice place. Wonder if water-front living on the Sacramento river is possible there.

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    --Steve
  • Paul BakerPaul Baker Posts: 6,351
    edited 2008-08-25 20:47
    There's two ways to get from his farm to Parallax, via highway you take I-5 S to I-80·E in sacramento then up a few miles on CA-65. The backroads way (which is what Chip likes to do) is take CA-99 S to CA-149 which empties into CA-70 just north of Oroville, then south of Marysville pick up CA-65 which will lead you to the office via the other direction on CA-65.

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    Paul Baker
    Propeller Applications Engineer

    Parallax, Inc.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2008-08-25 20:49
    How about a 2009 Propeller Walnut Woodstock (40 years of separation)
    ·
    We can all bring tents and sleeping bags.... Chip warns me though that the BIG sprinklers for the orchard come on at a relatively early morning schedule, so "showering" will be provided!!!·smilewinkgrin.gif
    ·
    ·
    More on a semi-serious note... what about an autonomous robot contest at the walnut orchard?·· Identify fallen trees,·dead trees,·misaligned or broken sprinkler heads, etc.·and mark the flagged GPS location for later necessary·actions.· Even autonomous robots that could help in·the harvesting of the walnuts might·be possible...·tree climbing robots?
    ·
    I don’t know... it could be fun if we set some·guidelines!
    ·



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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2008-08-25 21:04
    PROPSTOCK! Peace, Love, and Propeller!

    I'm in!

    [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    OBC

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  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2008-08-25 23:41
    How about robots that shake the tree? If you find a good resonant frequency, a relatively small bot should be able to harvest a big tree. Of course, the tree may be only good for one harvesting... How about an autonomous robot that goes around to collection bins, and collects those nuts and brings them to a central processing location. Seems relatively straight forward.
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2008-08-26 00:37
    SRLM,

    From what Chip told me last time I was out there, the machines that do harvest the walnuts "do" shake the tree limbs.· Some sort of water filled counter weight once the device is attached to the limb... I'm not sure how tuned they are.... could probably use some improvements to find the resonant frequency so that they are more efficient.

    The collection bins are perfect...

    If GPS wasn't adequate for location detection based on the tree canopy, then a large scale "RF beacon ring-oscillator"·might be fun..... Each one transmits one at a time, they would all be in a specific order.· Each would have a specific tone or code or both that it transmits on, and that information would be published.· You may not be able to do time domain, but since the RF receivers also have a strength indicator, then you could do a pseudo triangulation, based on a beacon-map and the signal strength associated to each calling sign.

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2008-08-26 01:36
    I'm thinking squirrel control. Anybody submit a superior squirrel repeller is bound to win the next Propeller Contest.

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  • rjo_rjo_ Posts: 1,825
    edited 2008-08-26 01:56
    It's not about Walnuts... it's about real estate prices. They were just using Chip's name to try to move farm land in their area.
    Professional journalism though... it looks like it is about Chip. But it is really about the price of farmland.

    A clever way to say... "here is where the really smart people are putting their money..." Well, really smart people don't need to be told where to put their money. The real estate agents in the area are looking for suckers.

    But it is smart... as long as you don't need pesticides... Pesticides cause all kinds of diseases that the farmers have to live with or quit.

    Nobody talks about it because we need food and someone has to grow it.
  • rjo_rjo_ Posts: 1,825
    edited 2008-08-26 02:00
    And they only talked about what the walnuts were worth... the trees are worth a lot more[noparse]:)[/noparse]
  • SRLMSRLM Posts: 5,045
    edited 2008-08-26 02:54
    I've heard of driverless systems that use burried wires that carry current. The cart can then read the magnetic field, and drive by wire. However, a wireless system would be more flexible. A GPS and compass setup should be accurate enough though, as long as there are in funnels to dirrect the cart more precisely. You could even program it so that it reads the amount of nuts in the device, and when full return, dump the nuts, then go to the next station. Then you wouldn't have to have preset dump routines.

    About the resonant frequency, I remember from high school physics class the teacher mentioning that, in humans, there is no one frequency (a frequency for bones, flesh, lungs, brains, legs, etc.) so that may be the case with the trees. Although, I'm sure that there is something that, if not a perfect frequency, can closely approximate it. There was a MAKE magazine design where the author built a beam that vibrated.
  • PhilldapillPhilldapill Posts: 1,283
    edited 2008-08-26 03:00
    I know the GPS thing does this sort of thing, but couldn't you set up repeater beacons around the orchird that the cart would "ping", measuring the time it takes for the ping signal to go to a repeater, and return? This way it could pinpoint it's location through triangulation much better than GPS... I've wanted to do something like this myself for mowing my yard(about 2 acres).
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2008-08-26 03:11
    Bah, forget resonant frequency...

    Let's just go for servo aimed lasers and target those walnuts. [noparse]:)[/noparse]
    Just don't burn down the farm. [noparse]:)[/noparse]

    OBC

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    New to the Propeller?

    Getting started with a Propeller Protoboard?
    Check out: Introduction to the Proboard & Propeller Cookbook 1.4
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  • VIRANDVIRAND Posts: 656
    edited 2008-08-26 04:29
    Beau Schwabe (Parallax) said...
    If GPS wasn't adequate for location detection based on the tree canopy, then a large scale "RF beacon ring-oscillator" might be fun..... Each one transmits one at a time, they would all be in a specific order. Each would have a specific tone or code or both that it transmits on, and that information would be published. You may not be able to do time domain, but since the RF receivers also have a strength indicator, then you could do a pseudo triangulation, based on a beacon-map and the signal strength associated to each calling sign.

    It's possible (and much easier) to use a single beacon to accurately indicate relative coordinates to all within it's range.
    It also would have been possible and useful to make one even more than 100 years ago.
  • Timothy D. SwieterTimothy D. Swieter Posts: 1,613
    edited 2008-08-26 14:44
    Propstock sounds like a wonderful idea. And abot the article, after meeting Chip I figured there were larger reasons for wanting a farm than to "avoid the financial market".

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    Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.

    www.brilldea.com·- Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, uOLED-IOC, eProto fo SunSPOT, BitScope
    www.sxmicro.com - a blog·exploring the SX micro
    www.tdswieter.com
  • simonlsimonl Posts: 866
    edited 2008-08-26 19:07
    I was only kidding guys! (...what've I done LOL)

    Propstock - I wonder if I can convince my family to holiday?!

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    Cheers,

    Simon
    www.norfolkhelicopterclub.co.uk
    You'll always have as many take-offs as landings, the trick is to be sure you can take-off again ;-)
    BTW: I type as I'm thinking, so please don't take any offense at my writing style smile.gif
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2008-08-26 19:41
    "Propstock sounds like a wonderful idea" - If anything just a good place to meet again to swap ideas.· The "contest" might be a little over-kill, but something that could be done small scale on the sidelines as part of an expo.
    Just keep in mind that harvesting season is towards the end of October, so the "real" harvesting equipment that would be there could be an issue from the point of view that we probably don't want to get in the way of the equipment.
    Anything that we come up with between now and then needs Chips approval of course.· Chip does like the idea,· he·has a large "barn/warehouse/hanger for a small plane" whatever you want to call it that he has mentioned that could actually host such an event.

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,752
    edited 2008-08-26 21:03
    How to manage that the single walnuts respond to a RFID-Signal. They are all individuals, but how is the tag working? Maybe use a propeller for pollination?
  • rjo_rjo_ Posts: 1,825
    edited 2008-08-26 21:15
    A Walnut grove filled with robots and partially washed Prop-heads... it just couldn't get any better than that.
  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,752
    edited 2008-08-27 13:07
    I very much like walnuts and own a still young tree. This morning I took a picture and You see: The dense fruits to the left and THREE waiting woodpeckers hidden in the trees. I never saw the woodpeckers gathered, but 5 propellers. wink.gif
    PIC_0049.JPG
    2272 x 1704 - 1M
  • tpw_mantpw_man Posts: 276
    edited 2008-08-28 00:54
    I think Propstock would be fun. I wonder if I can drag Dad there tongue.gif

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  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,246
    edited 2008-08-28 01:25
    tpw_man said...
    I think Propstock would be fun. I wonder if I can drag Dad there tongue.gif

    With adequate planning, I bet he'd come.

    We'd need to pick a timeframe, or season, in which to do this. To not take away from OldBitCollector's expo in Cleveland, perhaps it should be staggered by 6 months, making it in February, or maybe March (a little warmer).

    If there's enough interest, we can certainly do this.

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    Chip Gracey
    Parallax, Inc.
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