[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZETK74RWn8]
We may be good at soldering but when it comes to hauling topsoil our scrawny arms quiver. [Johndavid400] did the smart thing here by letting the machine do all the work. Instead of hauling an entire truckload of dirt across the yard one wheelbarrow at a time, he built a shelf on the top of his Lawnbot400. We saw this lawnmower Arduino-powered, remote control mower back in November. The addition of its ability to handle some of the manual labor makes it the perfect backyard hack.
[Via Embedds]
do yourself a favor and skip the first 0:50. cool hack though. pushing a wheelbarrow can be hard work.
I want one of these…:)
Personally I would’ve just driven the truck down alongside the fence. Prop up a board between the plantboxes (or whatever it’s called in English) and the fence. Jump up on the truck and just chuck the soil over so it slides on the board.
But hey, if it can be made more complicated AND fun, who am I to judge.
I wonder if it can dump the load or if he has to pull it out manually…
@Milton: Just take a run at the garden bed and stop really fast…
Huh, I wonder if it is possible to program the bot such that once a weight limit is reached, the bot drives to preset coords, and does an action(dump).
I watched some of “Alone in the Wilderness” on PBS last weekend. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss&feature=channel
Just saying.
Also, I shave with a straight razor.
Dear man,
Get a shovel.
Love,
Rich
Nice hack, I prefer my physical labour though. If I’m going to be at a desk all day doing work, I like getting some exercise.
The original project is great, but as far as I can tell the “new hack” here is adding a piece of plywood on top ?
I believe the first 58 seconds of this art film depicts the strife that man endures day in and day out never seeing an end until his life fills up with dirt – fini.
What he needs is a shovel bot, to take the soil out of the truck. In my experience, that is the difficult part. Moving a wheelbarrow (there is 4 wheeled ones with a dumping feature) 30 feet is quite easy. Or get the camera guy to do some work, too.
And he should use a shovel instead of a rake.
That gate looks wide enough to drive the truck a whole lot closer. Not quite a robot, more of an overgrown rc car.
brilliant vonskippy.
I must say, I like how it seems as though the bot barely shows any strain at having 60 pounds or so of soil dumped on top of it.
I have to agree with the previous guys above me, this dude needs a shovel. “Well all I had at the time was a rake” will not be taken for an excuse….
I’m not sure if anyone else noticed, or it may just be me. But did it sound like the motors were shorting, or the gears were stripping?
It’s an armchair for dirt.
lol @ him covering up his pretty plastic truck so the dirt doesn’t scratch it, great hack but get a real truck :)
Hey Great post found it on Google. Check out my Blog Thanks!!
This is stupid, and I like useless machines.
Instead of spending 20 hours fabricating another machine that is a brick without gasoline-
Dig up the fence posts, back the big gasoline machine in, leave some soil in the truck for the ruts(use shovel to fill ruts on the way out), repour the concrete fence posts at least 10 feet apart. Other option, slide in post on either side, larger diameter pipe in the concrete and just slide the post in.
Done in one day, and no need for lifting soil, just dumping.
I am also building one of these. I have some good ideas for ease of use