• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Skip to navigation
Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Connect
    • Custom Events
    • Slack
    • RSS
    • Send us a Tip
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • About
The Spoon
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Advertise
  • About

FarmBot Launches Two New Robotics Kits to Give Anyone an (Automated) Green Thumb

by Chris Albrecht
July 1, 2019July 1, 2019Filed under:
  • Ag Tech
  • Robotics, AI & Data
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

The idea of growing my own fruits and vegetables is appealing, but the reality of that ever happening is pretty slim. I just don’t have the know-how or the patience to set up and manage a garden properly. But FarmBot, the startup that sells home gardening robot kits, could change all that as the company announced today the launch of its new Express and Express XL robots, and placed them on pre-sale for the month of July.

The FarmBot is a cartesian coordinate robot that sits on top of your raised garden. According to the company, each kit comes 95 percent pre-assembled, and should only take an hour to set up. Once that’s done, FarmBot’s software lets you drag-and-drop to map out where you want to plant your different vegetables and fruits. Then FarmBot will sow the seeds, monitor them through its on-board camera, water them properly, and even spot and remove weeds. As is par for the course these days, all of this activity can be tracked via mobile app on your phone.

The new FarmBot models won’t ship until November, but the company has put them on pre-order sale for the month of July. The Express (1.2 metes by 3 meters) will set you back $1,500 now, with the price jumping to $2,300 after the sale, and the Express XL (2.4 meters by 6 meters) will cost $2,000 during the sale, going up to $2,800 afterwards.

The other cool thing about FarmBot is that it’s completely open source — even its financials. All the CAD drawings, software and documentation is online for you to download. In fact, the entire company is open source and transparent about all of its actions and activities.

So far, FarmBot says that it’s shipped more than 1,000 kits to “early adopters” in more than 65 countries. FWIW, in December of 2018, the company reported that it sold a skosh over 800 of its previous Genesis and Genesis XL kits to bring in $2.5 million in revenue.

With its new Express and Express XL models, the company says it is “ready to bring FarmBot to the masses,” which includes not just residential customers, but small scale farmers and places like universities. And while $1,500 isn’t cheap per se, and the machine won’t be of any use for city dwellers because of its size, if the kits are as easy to set up and run as promised, that price point could get those aspiring — but failing — gardeners the robot green thumb they need.


Related

Get the Spoon in your inbox

Just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest:

Find us on some of these other platforms:

  • Apple Podcasts
  • Spotify
Tagged:
  • farmbot
  • gardening
  • robots

Post navigation

Previous Post The Food Tech Show: How Will CRISPR Change Food?
Next Post Teriyaki Madness Expands Delivery Through Olo Partnership, Doubles-Down on In-House App

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Get The Spoon in Your Inbox

The Spoon Podcast Network!

Feed your mind! Subscribe to one of our podcasts!

Nearly Seven Years After Launching Kickstarter, Silo Finally Delivers Next-Gen Home Food Storage System
What Flavor Unlocks
Starbucks Unveils Green Dot Assist, a Generative AI Virtual Assistant for Coffee Shop Employees
Impulse Announces Its Battery-Integrated Cooktop Becomes First Certified to Applicable UL Safety Standards
Tasting Cultivated Seafood in London’s East-end

Footer

  • About
  • Sponsor the Spoon
  • The Spoon Events
  • Spoon Plus

© 2016–2025 The Spoon. All rights reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.