June 24, 2020 Software Update

Hi all,

This morning we released a big new update to the web app including a relocation of some core features, some visual refreshes, and a host of new features. Here’s what’s new:

New farm designer panels for Photos and Farmware

Looking for the Farmware page? You’ll now find a dedicated panel on the farm designer page for managing Farmware plugins (🧩 icon), and another new panel for Photos, Camera Calibration, and Weed Detection functions (📷 icon).

With these changes, more of the app experience is centered around and in-context of the virtual garden and FarmBot, making for a more streamlined experience. Now there is no need to flip between pages of the app to take photos and view them in the garden, or to detect weeds and watch the icons spring up.

Additionally, this change elevates all of the camera functionality to a 1st-class look and feel. Previously, these features were presented and documented as Farmware (which they are under-the-hood), though this was admittedly a bit confusing considering the importance of taking photos, detecting weeds, etc.

To further support this change, there is now a dedicated DETECT WEEDS sequence command, allowing users to perform this function without the need to understand that there is a Farmware under-the-hood performing the action.

Updated tool graphics

The Seeder, Weeder, Watering Nozzle, and Soil Sensor now feature updated graphics in the map and panels to better distinguish and illustrate each tool.

 

Group item numbers

When creating and editing a group, you’ll now see numbers in the map indicating each group member’s position within the item list.

 

Grid planting improvements

The grid planting feature now displays unsaved plants in grayscale allowing you to distinguish them from existing plants and see visual confirmation when the grid is saved. A new option for hexagonal grid planting allows for extra-dense garden layouts. sin(60deg), anyone? 

 

Additionally:

• Unsaved grid previews in the map will now auto-update whenever one of the grid parameters is changed.
• Default vertical and horizontal spacings now use the crop’s spread value when available.
• A new blue crosshairs button allows you to quickly set the starting X and Y coordinates of a grid to the FarmBot’s current location.

Slider control for analog peripherals

You can now create analog peripherals and control them using a slider. Simply press the EDIT button and change a peripheral from Digital to Analog using the dropdown. This can be used to dim the LED light strip or more finely control other custom peripherals.

Additionally, the CONTROL PERIPHERAL command now shows a slider for setting the peripheral’s value when the command is used to control a peripheral in Analog MODE. 

 

Other updates

• Fixed the location of a pre-made tool slot for new accounts.
• The sequence editor now prevents users from trying to control a Box LED with analog control (this is unsupported by our hardware).
• Added a new data field to the API to track when a FarmBot first gets connected to an account, allowing us to proactively reach out to customers to help with any setup issues that may arise.
• Improved the documentation and in-app suggestions when a user experiences a Code 30 connectivity error.
• Improved the connectivity popup so it is more discoverable, better handles partial connectivity cases, and provides additional information that is useful when providing customer support.

Enjoy! ☮️