Happy Fall 🍂 We haven’t posted an update in a few months which means we have a lot to share! Today we’re announcing a great new software library for you to make custom FarmBot integrations with, as well as a handful of other updates and sneak previews of what’s coming to the FarmBot ecosystem. Here’s what’s new:

farmbot-py

Over the Summer we mentored and worked with an intern, Juliana, who’s project was to create a “Sidecar Starter Pack” for FarmBot. The goal was to develop a suite of software tools to make it easier for 3rd party developers to control a FarmBot via the message broker and to manipulate account data stored in the API from a separate “sidecar” computer such as another Raspberry Pi bolted onto the side of the FarmBot, a laptop, or even a server in the cloud.

Today we are releasing this project as farmbot-py - a Python library which you can use in any project with just pip install farmbot. The library is fully documented, open-source (MIT licensed), and has 100% test coverage. It really makes authentication, talking to your FarmBot, and making API calls a breeze. For those of you who have written custom Lua code for use in your sequences, you’ll find nearly identical functions in this library and feel right at home.

In addition to code examples for every function, we have also written a few demo scripts to showcase what you can do with the library!

Example: Segmenting FarmBot photos

This example demonstrates how to use farmbot-py and the Segment Anything Model (SAM) to segment images taken by a FarmBot using AI. An image URL can be obtained either from the FarmBot API or by listening to the message broker for whenever the next image is taken.

Example: Copy plants to new account

This example shows how to copy all plants from one FarmBot account to another. While it is not meant to be a full backup tool, it shows the ease by which you can retrieve and upload information to the API.

We look forward to seeing what you all create with this library!

Bring Food Back to the Backyard

Watch our newest video for a sentimental look at what the FarmBot brand and mission really stand for: bringing food back to the backyard, together. And shoutout to all our customers and the DIY community who’s machines and gardens you might see in the video 🥰

FarmBot OS v15.4.10

The latest version of FarmBot OS fixes various bugs and adds some new features:

• Prevented unnecessary scheduler exits upon encountering duplicate variables when one is a placeholder. Thank you everyone for reporting and helping to investigate and confirm the fix for this bug!
• Added a to_unix() Lua helper.
• Added the planted_at field to local plant objects.

Miscellaneous

• After a few mishaps from some intrepid API users, we now prevent making POST or DELETE requests to /api/device, which had the effect of unlinking a user’s email from everything related to their device (all sequences, plants, most settings, and more).
• Fixed an issue where weed status was not updating in the UI after switching weeds. Thanks Matt for the help with this one!
• Added an Auto Update step to the setup wizard, prompting users to select a time when automatic updates should happen.
• Reordered the Home Position setup wizard steps to go Z then Y then X to reflect the ordering these maneuvers should normally be performed in to prevent collisions.
• The 3D FarmBot on our homepage is now hosted by our app servers at my.farm.bot instead of by GitHub pages, and all 3D updates going forward will be committed to the FarmBot-Web-App repository rather than the prototype 3D repo.
• We performed a database upgrade and updated our local_setup_instructions.sh for self-hosted users to do the same.
• Fixed a timezone issue that was preventing some users from logging into the app.

Genesis v1.8 development

We’re in the final design stages of Genesis v1.8, QAing new part designs and getting ready for a full production run which we expect to be available in early 2025. As mentioned in the previous update, this new version is focused primarily on manufacturability. Here’s an early look at some of the new parts:

The new track extrusions are even lighter weight than v1.7 and will come in 1m lengths so that the entire FarmBot kit can be packed and shipped in one box. The new design eliminates the lower slot and increases the depth of the upper slot, allowing for much easier installation of the nut bars used to align extrusions end-to-end, because the setscrews are now facing up instead of down.

The new extruded cable carrier supports provide more support for the cable carriers, better hide the X2 and Z motor cables for a cleaner aesthetic, and provide a nice diffusion of the light from the LED strip! Plus, they require no tools to mount on the extrusion (just slide them into the slot) and they are less expensive to produce than the handful of injection molded parts + stainless steel screws and nut bars that they replace.

We also have new extrusion profiles for the gantry columns and gantry main beam, putting material where it is needed for strength and removing it to save weight and cost where it is not needed. These new profiles provide substantial weight savings which improve FarmBot movements and also allow us to continue offering free worldwide shipping of our kits.