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I bet Mesopotamian farmers didn't see FarmBot coming

I bet Mesopotamian farmers didn't see FarmBot coming

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FarmBot Genesis claims to be "humanity's first open-source CNC farming machine." It claims to make farming easy by letting users tell the robot what plants they've put in the ground and then take a step back while FarmBot takes over. So long, sweaty farm work. FarmBot even comes with an app that makes IRL farming a game. Remember Farmville?

The bot relies on 3D-printed parts, like a seed injector, watering nozzle, and a weed destroyer to carry out its farm work. FarmBot also requires minimal infrastructure, including an internet connection, water flow, electricity, and a planter bed.

Although FarmBot's creators are marketing this as the future of farming, in reality, it'll likely be mainly used mostly for small gardens, at least to start. The demo video suggests that a human might never need to interact with their plants again and that could be tempting to a certain type of farmer, one who wants their own produce without all the manual labor.

It's also worth noting that most farms rely on technology to operate, whether that be irrigation set-ups or harvest robots. The FarmBot isn't yet available for preorder but its source code is already on GitHub for farm tech inspiration.