August 13, 2021 Software Update

Today we deployed a new version of the FarmBot web app with a bunch of exciting new features and improvements:

Soil height interpolation

FarmBot can now calculate an interpolated soil height at any (X, Y) location using an inverse distance weighting algorithm. Interpolated values will be used whenever you have selected “Soil height” in a MOVE command. The more soil height measurements you have near the chosen (X, Y), the more accurate the interpolated value will be. When less than 3 soil height measurements are available, FarmBot will use the FALLBACK SOIL HEIGHT value from the settings panel.

Additionally, you can view a map of the interpolated soil height in your entire garden by turning on the new SOIL map layer:

Lua users may also access interpolated soil heights using the soil_height(x, y) helper. (Lua documentation of this helper)

Moisture interpolation map

The web app can now also display an interpolated map of soil moisture in the entire garden by turning on the new MOISTURE map layer.

Improved location panel

You can now click anywhere on the soil in the farm designer map to show crosshairs across the map and open the location panel for the selected coordinates. The location panel provides movement controls for quickly moving FarmBot to the selected coordinates, a button for adding a point, and sections for displaying which plants, soil height measurements, sensor readings, and photos are nearby.

Simplified edit sequence and edit regimen panels

The top of the edit sequence and edit regimen panels have been updated. You’ll now find more of the controls represented as icons, and you can click the name of the sequence or regimen in the panel header to edit it.

Variable improvements

There is now an ADD VARIABLE button at the top of the edit sequence panel. This allows you to manually add a variable to the sequence rather than selecting “Add new” from a dropdown in a MOVE command. This is useful when you need to add a variable for use in LUA commands, but have no need for it in MOVE commands.

Once a variable has been added to a sequence, you can remove it by clicking the trashcan icon. A variable will no longer be automatically removed if it is not in-use by a sequence command.

New default settings

We’ve updated several default settings, which will take effect for new FarmBot web app accounts:

Genesis only

• Quiet mode: ON for all axes, hidden in advanced settings
• Motor current: 1000 for all axes

Genesis and Express

• Calibration retries: 1 for all axes
• Homing speed: same as default for max speed, hidden into the advanced settings
• Timeout after: Hidden into advanced settings
• Calibration retry reset distance: Hidden into advanced settings
• Enable and invert 2nd X motor: Hidden into advanced settings
• Stop at home and stop at max: Hidden into advanced settings

Miscellaneous

• The character limit for Lua code has been increased to 3,000 characters.
• Added a new step to the setup wizard to ensure the required network ports are opened. This is especially important for FarmBots installed in schools and at companies where the network is managed by an IT department.
• Added a permanent link to the setup wizard in the menu in the top-right of the app.
• Fixed a bug where the AT SOIL LEVEL checkbox was not being respected when creating a point grid.
• Improved the layout of the IF STATEMENT command to better display subsequences with variables.
• Improved log messages when movements fail due to timeout.

What’s next

We’re wrapping up the final changes to the app to support multi-variable sequences. FBOS v14.3.0 already supports this functionality, so stay tuned for this next big feature release!