October 2, 2020 Software Update

Hi all,

Today we deployed a new version of the FarmBot web app as well as FarmBot OS v12.1.0. Here's what's new:

Safe Height and Soil Height values

We've added two new fields to the settings panel for SAFE HEIGHT and SOIL HEIGHT. Safe Height is the Z-coordinate at which you can expect FarmBot to be able to safely move around the garden bed without running into plants. Usually this will be Z=0. Soil Height is the Z-coordinate where the toolhead/tools begin to interact with the soil.



Once set, you can then use these values in the OVERRIDE field in MOVE commands to perform operations at the X and Y location of an object in the garden, such as a plant, but at the Safe Height or Soil Height instead of the Z-coordinate of the object. Combined with offsets or variance, and you have a lot of control of how to get things done!

For example, the command shown below would move FarmBot to plant a seed 10mm below the soil surface.



This command would move FarmBot to take a photo above a plant.

Split Z-axis speed settings

You can now specify different max speed, minimum speed, and acceleration settings for the Z-axis when moving TOWARD HOME. This allows for better tuning of movements depending on if the Z-axis motor is working with or against gravity. Thank you @mbuchberger1967 for the suggestion!

Highlight modified settings

A new toggle switch in the settings panel allows you to HIGHLIGHT SETTINGS MODIFIED FROM DEFAULT. This is useful when troubleshooting setups.

Miscellaneous

• FarmBot's MAC address and IP address have been added back to the connectivity panel.
• Updated the seeded sequences for new accounts and demo accounts to use the Safe Height where appropriate.
• Fixed a bug where long garden names were rendering poorly.
• Fixed an issue preventing all digits from being deleted in grid planting form fields.
• The app will no longer work with FarmBot OS versions less than v9. Please upgrade to the latest!
• Huge thanks to @kbravh on GitHub for updating the Spanish translations and getting that language back to 100% translated.
• iframe embeds of the app are no longer allowed for security purposes.