July 7, 2021 Software Update

Today we deployed a new version of the FarmBot web app to go with the latest version of FarmBot OS released last week. Here’s what’s new:

New properties available in Lua

Many more properties are now available in Lua, allowing for even greater control over FarmBot with custom code. Here is an updated list of everything available:

:id,
:tool_id,
:gantry_mounted,
:meta,
:name,
:openfarm_slug,
:plant_stage,
:pointer_type,
:pullout_direction,
:resource_id,
:resource_type,
:radius,
:x,
:y,
:z

With access to these new properties you can do some pretty fun things. For example, you could easily instruct FarmBot to move in a circle around a point based on its x, y, and radius properties, which may be useful for weeding operations.

variable() and env() Lua functions now available in Formulas and ASSERTION

We’ve unified the ways in which Lua is executed by FarmBot OS so that LUA commands, ASSERTION commands, and formulas within MOVE commands all execute consistently now. This means that all functions, including variable() and env(), are now available in all places.

Account re-seeding

After resetting an account, you will now have the option to re-seed the account with starter resources from the setup wizard or message center.

Miscellaneous

• Removed the AUTOMATIC SOFT RESET option because it was a somewhat dangerous feature with little adoption.
• Fixed a bug causing the reset account feature to fail if there were sequences inside of folders.
• Made verbiage in the connectivity popup more consistent.
• Increased the visibility of certain help document links in the connectivity popup.
• Added infrastructure for selecting our next-gen bots (Genesis v1.6 and Express v1.1) during the account setup process.

Looking ahead

Through the rest of the year we are planning to build out some major new features. First, is the ability to create and execute sequences with multiple variables as well as arbitrary string variables. This will allow you to, for example, run a sequence over a group of plants while also passing in a custom Z coordinate, as well as a custom time to keep the solenoid valve opened.

In order to ship this feature quickly, there will be minimum “guardrails” on how the arbitrary string variables can be used, at least initially. That means that inexperienced users may run into some runtime errors, but any errors should be straightforward to debug for most people.

The second major feature will be the ability to publicly share sequences. Publicly sharing a sequence will create an immutable copy and a link to that sequence that can be shared here on the forum, in a support email, or in our documentation. Clicking a publicly shared sequence link will open the sequence as a preview, with the option to save a copy of the sequence to your account. Later down the line authors will be able to publish new versions of their public sequences with downstream users able to update their copy if they wish.

We anticipate that both of these new features are going to supercharge the sequence editor and unlock tons of new functionality for all FarmBot users by making it easy for everyone to share their custom code and ideas. Thanks for embarking on this journey with us!