I have played around with the camera based soil height detection and from my results it mostly works. I is very clever and I take my hat off to the person who came up with it as it is very clever.
My issue is I am trying to get a seed at a specific depth (say 25 mm) which requires accurate measurement of the soil height and unless I spend effort in leveling, it is always approximate. I am finding the undulation of the soil mean sometime there can up to 2 cm of difference between the calculated height and the real height due to the various variences.
Has anyone developed a tool that has a microswitch in it to accurate test to find the soil or maybe the answer is to wet it then use the moister detector to make that measurement.
In my thinking a plant placement would
- Accurately measure the soil at the exact location of the seed
- Open a hole (to prevent the see falling off the needle as do lettuce seeds)
- Place the seed with the needle
- Close the hole
- Water the seed.
Has anyone come up with this or better?