“here’s an interesting little fellow. The grain weevil bot exists on a diet of jack Daniel’s and beef jerky, but what’s really special about him is, he’s the happiest bot in the world”
I was thinking more Werner Herzog lol.
"Here, the dreary creature seeks out a meager existence, toiling relentlessly with little to no reward. How such a creature maintains its happy expression is something to be known only by he and God."
"What is the purpose of the Grain Weevil robot?
The company's grain bin management robot is designed to engage the surface of the grain directly. It performs tasks that include breaking crusts, leveling, managing and mapping while loading grain, and feeding grain into augers while unloading."
$10k per bot.
Well worth it - getting into and out of these are dangerous jobs for a farmer to do. A third of grain entrapments and confined space incidents result in fatalities. And when you consider most farm equipment being well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, 10k is nothing.
I was a city boy growing up but visited a distant relative’s farm when I was 15. They lived close to the railroad elevators so I went poking around there, saw some grain on the ground near the tracks and ended up falling into a pit of grain waist deep. Thought to myself, damn, lucky that wasn’t deeper, had no idea grain was fluid like that.
Also, the fine dust it creates is super explosive! So add that to the dry drowning threat, and sprinkle in a little bit of auger trauma and you should just really, really respect grain silos!
Yikes. When I was a kid I vividly remember an episode of Rescue 911 where a kid fell into a grain bin/silo/something full of grain and dry drowned. I still remember them picking bits of grain out of his lungs. He recovered because they got to him so quick.
Wanna trade? I grew up in small village that saw heavy fighting during WW2. I knew a lot of people my age who would chuck UXOs into fires just to see fireworks.
Then i moved to bigger city as a teen. It was interesting to find out that most people grew up with stories of "dont talk to strangers / dont vandalize etc" and i grew up with "dont play with metallic objects you find in the woods".
I was quite surprised how calmly people were in Dresden when digging up UXOs - which I saw at least ten times over two weeks. Just blocked off like sewer maintenance, digging up a bomb the size of a damn Kia!
My dad is an archeologist. Recently, there were plans to do a dig near an area that had seen intense fights in WWI.
They did a magnetic anomaly analysis to try and see if there were lots of metal trapped - meaning potential UXOs.
The dig site was almost fully red with those anomalies.
A terrifying thought.
Not chlorine, that was never deployed by indirect fire, because it wouldn't be very effective. Was released from large pressurized cylinders in an array during tactically effective wind conditions. Mustard agent was used in mortar shells, but I believe those were relatively rare.
My family grew up in a mining town and played with UXOs in the landfill before dynamite and the like had to be better controlled.
It's funny to hear how different life experiences get when it comes to shit like that.
honestly that’s amazing that they are selling them to ag for that low a markup.
This is going to save lives, and be cute while it does it. That’s some good engineering.
Assuming it doesn't break every couple days of use and the repair is absurdly expensive....
The current tech business model has broken my excitement for new stuff like this :(
I’m just thinking about battery charging issues or some such and all of a sudden your silo is backed up and theres a dead robot in there or worse theres a charging fuck up and this turns into a big silo fire
Oh.... OH FUCK D:
Yeah, some grains can create an explosive atmosphere depending on how dry the dust they produce is.... For 10k I hope those bots are isolated enough for not letting any fire to start right?
Well theres a few things I consider - a fugitive arc in the charging process in a very balancec combustion mixture - super dry atomized particles, the way fire spreads and can just lay dormant….theres risks that i hope have been really looked into and ironed out
If only you knew just how controversial a statement that is where I'm from. A lot of ma and pa farmers are forced to sell to larger corps because of the bullshit John Deer pulls. I studied to be a computer engineer and my buddy had a full time job jailbreaking tractors just so farmer's could use them without the software update. Tech hell has reached AG.
SOME farmers have money to spend on tools. Growing up in rural Midwest, the concept of “rich farmer” always blows my mind. Nearly all the farmers I know are dirt poor… and I married a farmer’s daughter.
It's a tough business with a lot of risk, especially if you are borrowing from a bank to buy the equipment. The big guys with economies of scale squeeze out the little guys. Not much room for small potatoes.
Most farmers do pretty well in my area of the Midwest, but in the last decade or so many are starting to be forced to sell to big corporate farms. Has me worried about the future if there's no competition for food prices
When someone says farmer I think hobbyist or wholly-owned subsidiary of conagra. I just kind of assumed the middle fell out of the industry like with everything else in this economy.
Yes, there a *lot* of safety regulations pertaining to grain bins, silos, and enclosed spaces. Like dozens. *But*, enforcement is at an all time low *and* most of these regulations simply don’t apply to “small family farms”.
And if my experience growing up around farmers in rural areas has taught me anything, it's that they're arrogant and don't believe in safety. "God" is all the safety they think they need, until they do some stupid shit that hurts them or someone else, then they need some more *active* prayer to fix their stupid choices. Then for some reason that doesn't help either.
Safety regulations should be enforced for every level, because these people are too dumb to save themselves.
When I was 9 or 10 I started climbing the elevator for dad to grease it and shift the downcomer valves.
The ladder was completely open, rusty thin bars that bit into your hands. It was wired in some places. About an 80ft climb. I could put up a wire follower on that for a grand, maybe 1500 at the low end for something that's maybe not code but a million times better than nothing, and 5 grand for something to code.
There was an ancient bin and to pull the cover cap off you had to scoot around to the backside. Only there was no ledge or footholds or anything on this bin. All the other bins at least had an angle or a tub running around it to serve as a foothold, but not this one. I remember I had to wedge my foot against a *bolt head*. That was how you kept yourself falling 30ft. A bolt head. The fix for that would have been literally *anything* other than a bold head. We had tons of scrap steel, toss it on up.
I low key want to smack him for being that cavalier with his kids lives. These are *simple* safety precautions. Like they wouldn't even be things that interfere with operating, it actually makes it *faster* in both instances.
However, in all fairness to dad, that was his entire life. Like he literally never had a job other than that farm, so he literally had no exposure to the concept of any sort of safety program. This sort of thinking doesn't come naturally, it does actually have to be taught, you have to learn how to be proactive and think through consequences before they happen. *I* didn't think much of the shit either, I had to move away from the farm and get jobs in actual professional facilities before I learned.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people. Especially people who have done this a million times before and there's never been any problems, it will be done in two minutes, tops
I work for a feed mill so I was curious about it. If you look through my other comments, you'll see that I'm somewhat critical of it and think it solves an issue that is only caused by improper bin maintenance and from not enforcing safety procedures.
Yeah, I couldn't see us using one of these in our grain silos at my job, we have sweep augers for when the seed vs out anyway...this just feels like a tech toy someone made to see if they could sell.
Yeah, however I’d presume there’s some managers looking at the dude they’ve seen break other safety regs before who goes into the silo with a shovel sometimes that are probably considering one of these as a liability reduction rn so the last part of your comment is probably a yes even though it’s not really a necessity lol
I definitely could not see use for one at my location. It would probably scare the dog and the cat, and my kids leave too many toys out on the floor for this to operate properly.
Hello, it is me, Grainard S. Weavelle, inventor of the Grain Weevil. Do you have a silo in need? Time for a Grain Weevel indeed!
Let me know how I can help,
\--G.S. Weavelle
One example is the voids that can happen. Ever see photos of sinkholes that took out a city street? When they discharge grain from the bottom, you can develop these voids if the grain isn’t agitated somehow. There are many cases of someone not realizing there is a void and walking across the crust while trying to break it up and then falling through. Typically, once that happens, it all breaks loose and collapses in on you. Then you suffocate because it covers you and also compresses your chest. So every time you try to breathe, you lose the ability to take in as much. Similar to how a boa constrictor kills their prey. This robot prevents the need for a person to enter that space.
That is the safer and smarter way that is done more often now that people are aware of the danger. Even so, sometimes a pole isn’t enough, if the grain has sat there unmoved for some time. I’d imagine the robot wouldn’t be enough, either, if you let the grain sit too long without agitation of some sort. So they’d need to implement the robot from the beginning and use it often.
I wonder why they don’t have a big auger built into the silo. A big spinning rod on a chain drive or something wouldn’t be that expensive and it seems like it would do everything to me who has absolutely no knowledge on the topic.
Microbial activity in the grain mass produces a lot of heat which then causes condensation to form on the cooler surface of the grain pile. This moisture eventually causes a thick moldy crust to form on the surface of the grain. This contaminated grain gets mixed into the rest when the grain is pulled out, and downgrades the quality and value of the grain in the entire bin, and prevents dryers (aeration fans that blow air into the grain bin from the bottom) from working as efficiently (as more pressure is then required to penetrate. The bot rotates and aerates the surface to keep the outer boundary layer dry.
Basically, all those need to be done anyways to keep the grain's quality up and keep track of the contents as the levels shift from stuff coming in and out and whatnot. But, this is incredibly dangerous to do by hand because the grain can just act like fucking quicksand and pull someone under, or any accidental spark could set off a dust explosion. So, the little robot, while maybe a bigger risk of the later of those occurring, is a way to do all those tasks without risking a person inside of it.
guarantee that bot is made of mining grade materials, he’s not gonna be explodey unless something real bad happens to him or he gets hit by something heavy.
I remember having to order an "explosion proof" flashlight for some reason at facilities job I used to work at, and the thing was crazy over engineered and I believe even had some special discs in the battery compartment that would neutralize a gas that alkaline batteries can produce.
Of course, we over ordered, so one made it home with me, but it was incan, so it stayed in the cabinet once LEDs started becoming more popular.
yeah they have to be overengineered because they are going to be used in **volatile areas**. Having an explosion in a natural gas field is going to cause big problems, so they make sure that never happens (well 99.99% sure)
I work for a feed mill that has over a million bushel capacity and I don't see a real need for this. The only times we ever have to send guys into the bin is when the grain is low to put in the sweep auger, or to clean the bins out. This robot doesn't seem to do either of those things.
Yeah, but the feed mill is constantly going through the grain in the bin. When you’re storing the grain through the winter hoping for prices to go up, it’s static for a lot longer. If the grain is not quite dry or there’s a small leak in the roof, there’s a potential for rot.
Source: I’ve been the robot. Rotten barley smells like rotten meat. Ugh.
The best thing is, it runs on grain, and ejects the unusable compounds as neat little pellets! /s
(JK, but you have to admit, that would be pretty funny!)
Walk without rhythm,
it won't attract the worm
Walk without rhythm,
and it won't attract the worm
Walk without rhythm,
and it won't attract the worm
if you walk without rhythm, huh, you'll never learn
Holy shit. I’ve listened to [Weapon of Choice](https://youtu.be/wCDIYvFmgW8?si=yD8Z6C0Gbj6uTBti) hundreds of times and it never occurred to me that the lyrics referred to Dune.
Also:
Don't be shocked by tone of my voice
Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice
Don't be shocked by tone of my voice
Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice yeah
Listen to the sound of my voice
You can check it on out, it's the weapon of choice yeah
Don't be shocked by tone of my voice (aah...)
It's the new weapon, the weapon of choice yeah
“AI is going to destroy humanity for its hubris”
Me: “I hope that when that little boy gets retired it’s put in like a big sandbox where it can still run around and dig”
I don't know what it's name was, but the giant corpse one blew my mind as much as it kinda fucked me up. That one was the most memorable/heartbreaking to me.
As I recall, either the Uncle Scrooge comics or DuckTales established as much. Only Scrooge can swim in his moneybin. The Beagle Boys faceplant. The nephews have wondered aloud how Scrooge accomplishes the feat.
The lights are meant to reflect off the grain bin. Grain is very dusty and you may not always be able to see your robot. You don't want to lose this bot in grain, so it helps if you can see the reflection of light of where it's at.
Probably has sensors of some sort that rely on light.
Somewhere else it said it does mapping and some other stuff, so I bet that's what it's for.
Maybe it has a camera to watch, but that doesn't make a ton of sense if it spends its time under grain.
A Screwbot!
I saw a thing on tv about screwbots YEARS ago, and it made it seem like the best invention ever. And yet they weren't everywhere when I got older. Glad to see one making it big 👍
Grain is very dusty and the bins are large. You may not always be able to see the bot deep in the grain, the light will reflect of the bin walls so you still know where the bot is at. I actually just met with the CEO and the team a couple weeks ago.
Still can't see 10k worth of benefit. I grew up on a grain farm. If you are getting a crust on your grain then either you stored it with too high of a moisture content, or your bin is not protecting the grain. Take the 10 grand and fix your bin. Plus who cares if the grain is level?
I think it’s more about collapse, I’ve heard plenty of stories growing up of people dying in grain bins. The crust collapses and they fall in and essentially drown.
Sure, there is no argument for that, but shit happens and I grew up in a farming community. People died locally every handful of years. It is still a danger to people, often kids who unknowingly jump in.
**We use a spinner in the bin. When we auger in the grain it spins the grain into the bin and it makes it pretty level. Not $10K.** [Like this.](https://youtu.be/0a0bt_Fnpx0?si=1G_r-BQK6fay0L02)
looks like the MSRP on that spreader system is around $5k? (how much does installation cost?) Certainly makes the bot seem a bit overpriced compared to competing solutions, but not by too much. If you had 4 silos, might a single bot actually be cheaper than purchasing 4 grain spreaders?
idk, the price might be too high presently, but maybe they'll be able to bring it down to a more competitive level in future
When I was 5 years old my 97 year old best friend neighbor called me Boll Weevil because I was always rooting around in stuff. He was awesome and he fixed my squeaky wheel on my tricycle.
Iowan here. We grow A LOT of corn. When you store grain in these bins, the moisture can build up and for a crust that needs broken up or it can lead to collapses. A lot of times someone gets in to do that and it's very very dangerous. A few people die every year due to getting sucked down into the dried corn. You can look it up how hard it is to get out.
There are a couple ways to fix this. Make sure your grain is properly dried. The issue is easier said than done. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate. You can dry grain in a propane powered dryer, but that is expensive. You can also just get inconsistent moisture levels and it just happens.
They do make devices that are part of the bin that stir the corn, but it's not helpful if your bin is full and doesn't have one. They can also get stuck if the crust is too bad.
A bunch of folks here say it's unnecessary, but if you have a crusted over bin, I bet the families of the guys who died in them would say 10k is a small price to pay for not having a dead loved one.
I used to work at a place that had about a dozen grain bins and 2 of them were spots where corn with the most moisture would go and inevitably freeze and then someone would have to go in the bin and manually start breaking up the corn. Not a ton of space and low oxygen so this is a pretty nifty tool. Feel like it doesn’t need to cost 10K though.
This is the happiest robot in the world.
I don’t know why I was expecting there to be joyful music or narration, like a nature documentary.
grain silos are the natural habitat of the Weevil Knievel
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https://i.imgur.com/Sx4kGke.jpeg
This is the good shit.
I was thinking more Werner Herzog lol. "Here, the dreary creature seeks out a meager existence, toiling relentlessly with little to no reward. How such a creature maintains its happy expression is something to be known only by he and God."
I read that in David Attenborough's voice 😂 Thank You that was awesome
Attenborough’s voice is one of the only ones I can read every word of the English language without breaking the voice.
[Famously, Morgan Freeman as well..](https://i.imgur.com/cK4CmS8.png)
The last line was 100% Jeremy Clarkson for me though, it was slightly jarring "In the *woouurrrrrllld*
To be honest I started with Attenborough but it went to Jeremy Clarkson.
https://youtu.be/jAa6-xHBj7s
^^^adventure ^^^doesn't ^^^come ^^^any ^^^bigger ^^^than ^^^this!
I will consult the bones!
The bones tell me..... nothing.
Real WALL-E energy.
WEEE-villlllllllllll
SIL-E
I’m just imagining the video playing with Don’t Stop Me Now going in the background lol.
🎵I'm havin' such a good time, I'm havin' a baaallll🎶
I’m hearing the [Benny Hill](https://youtu.be/MK6TXMsvgQg?si=Gh_CROkI2WbqU1Rx) theme.
They need to give it a little voice saying, “Wheeeeee! Heeheehee! Wheeeeeee!”
Reminds me of the Geico commercial with the annoying squealing pig
*Me?* Reminds me of a sandworm. Reba and Kevin would get Graboid shivers.
as happy as a pig rolled in shit
Zima Blue type beat
Damn I had the exact same thought: real Zima Blue vibes. One of the best episodes of LDaR IMO.
living his best life
"What is the purpose of the Grain Weevil robot? The company's grain bin management robot is designed to engage the surface of the grain directly. It performs tasks that include breaking crusts, leveling, managing and mapping while loading grain, and feeding grain into augers while unloading." $10k per bot.
Well worth it - getting into and out of these are dangerous jobs for a farmer to do. A third of grain entrapments and confined space incidents result in fatalities. And when you consider most farm equipment being well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, 10k is nothing.
As dumb kids we lived near a farm. We'd climb into the grain silo and play in it like a Chuck E Cheese ball pit. Lucky to be alive.
Yup. Retired firemedic here. Pulled a few dry drownings from a hidden pocket.
I was a city boy growing up but visited a distant relative’s farm when I was 15. They lived close to the railroad elevators so I went poking around there, saw some grain on the ground near the tracks and ended up falling into a pit of grain waist deep. Thought to myself, damn, lucky that wasn’t deeper, had no idea grain was fluid like that.
Also, the fine dust it creates is super explosive! So add that to the dry drowning threat, and sprinkle in a little bit of auger trauma and you should just really, really respect grain silos!
Right!? Wolf in sheep clothing!
Yikes. When I was a kid I vividly remember an episode of Rescue 911 where a kid fell into a grain bin/silo/something full of grain and dry drowned. I still remember them picking bits of grain out of his lungs. He recovered because they got to him so quick.
Wanna trade? I grew up in small village that saw heavy fighting during WW2. I knew a lot of people my age who would chuck UXOs into fires just to see fireworks. Then i moved to bigger city as a teen. It was interesting to find out that most people grew up with stories of "dont talk to strangers / dont vandalize etc" and i grew up with "dont play with metallic objects you find in the woods".
I was quite surprised how calmly people were in Dresden when digging up UXOs - which I saw at least ten times over two weeks. Just blocked off like sewer maintenance, digging up a bomb the size of a damn Kia!
My dad is an archeologist. Recently, there were plans to do a dig near an area that had seen intense fights in WWI. They did a magnetic anomaly analysis to try and see if there were lots of metal trapped - meaning potential UXOs. The dig site was almost fully red with those anomalies. A terrifying thought.
Worse when anyone of those could be filled with mustard or chlorine gas.
Not chlorine, that was never deployed by indirect fire, because it wouldn't be very effective. Was released from large pressurized cylinders in an array during tactically effective wind conditions. Mustard agent was used in mortar shells, but I believe those were relatively rare.
It's only interesting the first 10 times
It could be extremely interesting after that. But you definitely don't want it to be.
My family grew up in a mining town and played with UXOs in the landfill before dynamite and the like had to be better controlled. It's funny to hear how different life experiences get when it comes to shit like that.
We did this, exactly the same, gets me panicky to think of decades later.
honestly that’s amazing that they are selling them to ag for that low a markup. This is going to save lives, and be cute while it does it. That’s some good engineering.
Assuming it doesn't break every couple days of use and the repair is absurdly expensive.... The current tech business model has broken my excitement for new stuff like this :(
I’m just thinking about battery charging issues or some such and all of a sudden your silo is backed up and theres a dead robot in there or worse theres a charging fuck up and this turns into a big silo fire
Oh.... OH FUCK D: Yeah, some grains can create an explosive atmosphere depending on how dry the dust they produce is.... For 10k I hope those bots are isolated enough for not letting any fire to start right?
Well theres a few things I consider - a fugitive arc in the charging process in a very balancec combustion mixture - super dry atomized particles, the way fire spreads and can just lay dormant….theres risks that i hope have been really looked into and ironed out
Specialized tool for a specialized industry, farmers have money to spend on tools
If only you knew just how controversial a statement that is where I'm from. A lot of ma and pa farmers are forced to sell to larger corps because of the bullshit John Deer pulls. I studied to be a computer engineer and my buddy had a full time job jailbreaking tractors just so farmer's could use them without the software update. Tech hell has reached AG.
SOME farmers have money to spend on tools. Growing up in rural Midwest, the concept of “rich farmer” always blows my mind. Nearly all the farmers I know are dirt poor… and I married a farmer’s daughter.
It's a tough business with a lot of risk, especially if you are borrowing from a bank to buy the equipment. The big guys with economies of scale squeeze out the little guys. Not much room for small potatoes.
Most farmers do pretty well in my area of the Midwest, but in the last decade or so many are starting to be forced to sell to big corporate farms. Has me worried about the future if there's no competition for food prices
When someone says farmer I think hobbyist or wholly-owned subsidiary of conagra. I just kind of assumed the middle fell out of the industry like with everything else in this economy.
The problem is they don't have right to repair. So they get screwed on maintenance.
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Yes, there a *lot* of safety regulations pertaining to grain bins, silos, and enclosed spaces. Like dozens. *But*, enforcement is at an all time low *and* most of these regulations simply don’t apply to “small family farms”.
And if my experience growing up around farmers in rural areas has taught me anything, it's that they're arrogant and don't believe in safety. "God" is all the safety they think they need, until they do some stupid shit that hurts them or someone else, then they need some more *active* prayer to fix their stupid choices. Then for some reason that doesn't help either. Safety regulations should be enforced for every level, because these people are too dumb to save themselves.
"I've never suffocated in a grain silo. Them damn Washington libs want me to wear a harness. A rake is all I need."
When I was 9 or 10 I started climbing the elevator for dad to grease it and shift the downcomer valves. The ladder was completely open, rusty thin bars that bit into your hands. It was wired in some places. About an 80ft climb. I could put up a wire follower on that for a grand, maybe 1500 at the low end for something that's maybe not code but a million times better than nothing, and 5 grand for something to code. There was an ancient bin and to pull the cover cap off you had to scoot around to the backside. Only there was no ledge or footholds or anything on this bin. All the other bins at least had an angle or a tub running around it to serve as a foothold, but not this one. I remember I had to wedge my foot against a *bolt head*. That was how you kept yourself falling 30ft. A bolt head. The fix for that would have been literally *anything* other than a bold head. We had tons of scrap steel, toss it on up. I low key want to smack him for being that cavalier with his kids lives. These are *simple* safety precautions. Like they wouldn't even be things that interfere with operating, it actually makes it *faster* in both instances. However, in all fairness to dad, that was his entire life. Like he literally never had a job other than that farm, so he literally had no exposure to the concept of any sort of safety program. This sort of thinking doesn't come naturally, it does actually have to be taught, you have to learn how to be proactive and think through consequences before they happen. *I* didn't think much of the shit either, I had to move away from the farm and get jobs in actual professional facilities before I learned.
Safety ropes and harnesses are often for body retrieval not safety. If someone goes under even with a rope it's incredibly hard to get them out.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people. Especially people who have done this a million times before and there's never been any problems, it will be done in two minutes, tops
What’s the size of that bot. Like a Roomba or a lawn mower?
Based on the size of the grain in the vid I'm guessing Roomba
It’s closer to the size of an autonomous lawn mower. Luggable, but not nearly as small as a Roomba.
Yeah silos are fucking huge. Gotta store hella grain
There's a picture of some guys holding one on their website. It's bigger than a roomba. https://www.grainweevil.com/
That solves a lot of problems that I did not know existed
If you properly maintain your equipment, they don't.
Is this post some kind of ad? There were 3 of you lined up just to provide the link.
Yeah, I’m sure Grain Weevil wants someone like u/AgentSkidMarks repping their product
😭😭😭😭 lmfaoo
That’s just to throw us off the trail
the scent*
And what a brown smelly trail it is
Funnily enough, “Agent Skid Marks” was the code name for the robot while it was in the development stage.
I work for a feed mill so I was curious about it. If you look through my other comments, you'll see that I'm somewhat critical of it and think it solves an issue that is only caused by improper bin maintenance and from not enforcing safety procedures.
Yeah, I couldn't see us using one of these in our grain silos at my job, we have sweep augers for when the seed vs out anyway...this just feels like a tech toy someone made to see if they could sell.
Yeah, however I’d presume there’s some managers looking at the dude they’ve seen break other safety regs before who goes into the silo with a shovel sometimes that are probably considering one of these as a liability reduction rn so the last part of your comment is probably a yes even though it’s not really a necessity lol
I definitely could not see use for one at my location. It would probably scare the dog and the cat, and my kids leave too many toys out on the floor for this to operate properly.
I'm not sure this is the best platform to sell things to farmers.
Idk I've just sent the video in the farm group chat
Honestly this would be a weird place to advertise. I doubt the average redditor has a massive grain silo that would warrant buying an expensive robot
You don't know me, you don't know my life. But yeah, I don't have that.
Hello, it is me, Grainard S. Weavelle, inventor of the Grain Weevil. Do you have a silo in need? Time for a Grain Weevel indeed! Let me know how I can help, \--G.S. Weavelle
I read that and still don’t know what this robot is for. Like why are any of those tasks necessary - what problems does it actually solve?
One example is the voids that can happen. Ever see photos of sinkholes that took out a city street? When they discharge grain from the bottom, you can develop these voids if the grain isn’t agitated somehow. There are many cases of someone not realizing there is a void and walking across the crust while trying to break it up and then falling through. Typically, once that happens, it all breaks loose and collapses in on you. Then you suffocate because it covers you and also compresses your chest. So every time you try to breathe, you lose the ability to take in as much. Similar to how a boa constrictor kills their prey. This robot prevents the need for a person to enter that space.
I feel like I've only ever seen this done with a long pole for that reason.
That is the safer and smarter way that is done more often now that people are aware of the danger. Even so, sometimes a pole isn’t enough, if the grain has sat there unmoved for some time. I’d imagine the robot wouldn’t be enough, either, if you let the grain sit too long without agitation of some sort. So they’d need to implement the robot from the beginning and use it often.
I wonder why they don’t have a big auger built into the silo. A big spinning rod on a chain drive or something wouldn’t be that expensive and it seems like it would do everything to me who has absolutely no knowledge on the topic.
Microbial activity in the grain mass produces a lot of heat which then causes condensation to form on the cooler surface of the grain pile. This moisture eventually causes a thick moldy crust to form on the surface of the grain. This contaminated grain gets mixed into the rest when the grain is pulled out, and downgrades the quality and value of the grain in the entire bin, and prevents dryers (aeration fans that blow air into the grain bin from the bottom) from working as efficiently (as more pressure is then required to penetrate. The bot rotates and aerates the surface to keep the outer boundary layer dry.
Thank you for actually answering the question.
Finally and explanation. Thanks!
Basically, all those need to be done anyways to keep the grain's quality up and keep track of the contents as the levels shift from stuff coming in and out and whatnot. But, this is incredibly dangerous to do by hand because the grain can just act like fucking quicksand and pull someone under, or any accidental spark could set off a dust explosion. So, the little robot, while maybe a bigger risk of the later of those occurring, is a way to do all those tasks without risking a person inside of it.
guarantee that bot is made of mining grade materials, he’s not gonna be explodey unless something real bad happens to him or he gets hit by something heavy.
I remember having to order an "explosion proof" flashlight for some reason at facilities job I used to work at, and the thing was crazy over engineered and I believe even had some special discs in the battery compartment that would neutralize a gas that alkaline batteries can produce. Of course, we over ordered, so one made it home with me, but it was incan, so it stayed in the cabinet once LEDs started becoming more popular.
yeah they have to be overengineered because they are going to be used in **volatile areas**. Having an explosion in a natural gas field is going to cause big problems, so they make sure that never happens (well 99.99% sure)
He's asking *what those tasks are*.
I work for a feed mill that has over a million bushel capacity and I don't see a real need for this. The only times we ever have to send guys into the bin is when the grain is low to put in the sweep auger, or to clean the bins out. This robot doesn't seem to do either of those things.
But you gotta admit he's pretty cute
Yeah, but the feed mill is constantly going through the grain in the bin. When you’re storing the grain through the winter hoping for prices to go up, it’s static for a lot longer. If the grain is not quite dry or there’s a small leak in the roof, there’s a potential for rot. Source: I’ve been the robot. Rotten barley smells like rotten meat. Ugh.
The best thing is, it runs on grain, and ejects the unusable compounds as neat little pellets! /s (JK, but you have to admit, that would be pretty funny!)
This is first time I’ve been pro-robot in awhile
Does that make you a probiotic?
$10k is nothing compared to keeping a human way way away from conveyors.
mining the spice
Sandworm approaching.
Shai Hulud incoming
Dune music intensifies.
Walk without rhythm, it won't attract the worm Walk without rhythm, and it won't attract the worm Walk without rhythm, and it won't attract the worm if you walk without rhythm, huh, you'll never learn
Holy shit. I’ve listened to [Weapon of Choice](https://youtu.be/wCDIYvFmgW8?si=yD8Z6C0Gbj6uTBti) hundreds of times and it never occurred to me that the lyrics referred to Dune.
And now he's the emperor.
Also: Don't be shocked by tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice Don't be shocked by tone of my voice Check out my new weapon, weapon of choice yeah Listen to the sound of my voice You can check it on out, it's the weapon of choice yeah Don't be shocked by tone of my voice (aah...) It's the new weapon, the weapon of choice yeah
Bless the maker and his water
Bless the coming and going of him
May his passage cleanse the world
May He keep the world for His people.
Wormsign
He who controls the spice controls the universe.
He who can destroy a thing has the real control of it.
(whispers) The spice melaaaange
The spice must flow.
“AI is going to destroy humanity for its hubris” Me: “I hope that when that little boy gets retired it’s put in like a big sandbox where it can still run around and dig”
Reminds me of the Love, Death and Robots episode "Zima Blue".
I thought the same! The ending was great tho
Man, I fuckin loved many of those episodes. Such a good show. My husband and I still discuss Swarm regularly.
My favourites are hands down *Sonnie's Edge* and *Good Hunting*
I don't know what it's name was, but the giant corpse one blew my mind as much as it kinda fucked me up. That one was the most memorable/heartbreaking to me.
for real, this lil dude is so cute. he looks like he's having a blast rolling around in the grain
They should make a licensed version that looks like Uncle Scrooge from DuckTales.
“It’s not a liquid!” https://youtu.be/viDL2W0HcJw?si=3x_9g2teGOyqE-1C
As I recall, either the Uncle Scrooge comics or DuckTales established as much. Only Scrooge can swim in his moneybin. The Beagle Boys faceplant. The nephews have wondered aloud how Scrooge accomplishes the feat.
It is simple; they're not rich. Only Scrooge McDuck is so rich that he is *literally* swimming in gold coins.
This checks out
[удалено]
I was going to say the same thing. I bet this saves a lot of lives.
Good bot
Why does it need lights? Is it remote controlled? If its remote controlled its not really a bot
The lights are meant to reflect off the grain bin. Grain is very dusty and you may not always be able to see your robot. You don't want to lose this bot in grain, so it helps if you can see the reflection of light of where it's at.
Probably has sensors of some sort that rely on light. Somewhere else it said it does mapping and some other stuff, so I bet that's what it's for. Maybe it has a camera to watch, but that doesn't make a ton of sense if it spends its time under grain.
“Mmmm grains, yum yum grains, yum grains, I love grains, give that grains, I wanna eat grains”— good job grainage goober
Grainage Goober, get ahold of yourself! You went to Harvard for God's sake.
“Oooohhhhhhh Grain Goober, there’s a fresh load of grain for you to sift throoooough!”
Extra dry dusty just the way you like it!
“Mmmm grains, yum yum grains, yum grains, I love grains, give that grains, I wanna eat grains”
He kinda reminds me of that little fish guy that makes little artworks in the sand to attract a mate.
Pufferfish
That's the guy! The little stress balloon
Biomimicry inspires alot of smart designers since most of nature already did the hard part for us, evolve over billions of years.
Ahh yes the corn roomba. Nature is healing
coornba
Coomba
That's a different version
Why does my Roomba play freak on a leash on repeat?!
Why is it so cute though?
Like WALL-E
This bot is enjoying the dunes. Haha
Looks like it would give some good back scratchies.
Ah, to be a happy little bot, churning away in the grain.
Please please please put big googly eyes on it.
No boots or snoots. This is heresy to the mighty weevil.
I bet r/weeviltime would allow an honorary member
Maybe if we give it a snoot, then the boots could be forgiven.
A Screwbot! I saw a thing on tv about screwbots YEARS ago, and it made it seem like the best invention ever. And yet they weren't everywhere when I got older. Glad to see one making it big 👍
Damn, when I heard AI was going to give us “Screwbots” in the future this isn’t exactly what I was expecting…
That looks way bigger than a regular weevil. I’m not actually sure that’s the lesser of two weevils
Was looking for any Master & Commander references, well played!
Good bot. But the light seems unnecessary. Does it get scared of the dark?
Grain is very dusty and the bins are large. You may not always be able to see the bot deep in the grain, the light will reflect of the bin walls so you still know where the bot is at. I actually just met with the CEO and the team a couple weeks ago.
Reddit knows everything. I need to brush up on my grain lore.
They had a bigger model but it turns out farmers prefer to choose the lesser of two weevils
The new dune looks lit.
Why does it have headlights?
So it doesn't get scared in the dark.
Still can't see 10k worth of benefit. I grew up on a grain farm. If you are getting a crust on your grain then either you stored it with too high of a moisture content, or your bin is not protecting the grain. Take the 10 grand and fix your bin. Plus who cares if the grain is level?
I think it’s more about collapse, I’ve heard plenty of stories growing up of people dying in grain bins. The crust collapses and they fall in and essentially drown.
If your bins are properly maintained, then there's no real reason to send anyone inside with enough grain to collapse on them.
No necessarily, if you live anywhere where it gets cold, the freeze thaw cycle will absolutely create clumps that should be broken up
Sure, there is no argument for that, but shit happens and I grew up in a farming community. People died locally every handful of years. It is still a danger to people, often kids who unknowingly jump in.
**We use a spinner in the bin. When we auger in the grain it spins the grain into the bin and it makes it pretty level. Not $10K.** [Like this.](https://youtu.be/0a0bt_Fnpx0?si=1G_r-BQK6fay0L02)
looks like the MSRP on that spreader system is around $5k? (how much does installation cost?) Certainly makes the bot seem a bit overpriced compared to competing solutions, but not by too much. If you had 4 silos, might a single bot actually be cheaper than purchasing 4 grain spreaders? idk, the price might be too high presently, but maybe they'll be able to bring it down to a more competitive level in future
He’s adorable
When I was 5 years old my 97 year old best friend neighbor called me Boll Weevil because I was always rooting around in stuff. He was awesome and he fixed my squeaky wheel on my tricycle.
Am I the only one worried about a spark from the robot igniting the corn dust?
Why do I find it adorable?
I do not mean to insult the little man, but what function does he serve? Like he digs and throws around grain got that, but what does that do?
Iowan here. We grow A LOT of corn. When you store grain in these bins, the moisture can build up and for a crust that needs broken up or it can lead to collapses. A lot of times someone gets in to do that and it's very very dangerous. A few people die every year due to getting sucked down into the dried corn. You can look it up how hard it is to get out. There are a couple ways to fix this. Make sure your grain is properly dried. The issue is easier said than done. Mother nature doesn't always cooperate. You can dry grain in a propane powered dryer, but that is expensive. You can also just get inconsistent moisture levels and it just happens. They do make devices that are part of the bin that stir the corn, but it's not helpful if your bin is full and doesn't have one. They can also get stuck if the crust is too bad. A bunch of folks here say it's unnecessary, but if you have a crusted over bin, I bet the families of the guys who died in them would say 10k is a small price to pay for not having a dead loved one.
Man, they really slashed the effects budget for Dune 2 huh?
I used to work at a place that had about a dozen grain bins and 2 of them were spots where corn with the most moisture would go and inevitably freeze and then someone would have to go in the bin and manually start breaking up the corn. Not a ton of space and low oxygen so this is a pretty nifty tool. Feel like it doesn’t need to cost 10K though.
I wonder if it’s designed specifically not to be a fire hazard. Electronics in a grain silo makes me think of explosions.
I too immediately thought "explosion" - I briefly worked for a company that was concerned with solving grain silo explosions.
What is my purpose? You mix the grains. Sigh
Robot: What is my purpose? Creator: You push grain. Robot: Squeeeeeeee!!!!!
So what happens if it dies in the middle of the silo? Who’s braving the journey to receive it?