Stargarden. I have worked in citrus orchard production using wicking in those locations to service trees being grown…
Commercial greenhouse also use a different name for wicking that is sub-irrigation. That is where the pot and the water transport/storage are two different parts.
Crop development and CRISPR/Pharmaceutical research both make sense to use overhead to stress plants particular ways to see how they react. Fairly much everything else wicking of some form.
Wicking bed improvement in water usage does not require that harsh of a climate. Disaster relief if growing crops one of the things you are normally short on is clean usable water. Disaster relief the climate may not be harsh but water restrictions will be.
Simply use a conveyor belt so you have 3 seperate workstations, loading plants, the farmbots working in the middle, and unload at the end.
This would work in a Commercial greenhouse with sub-irrigation/wicking. Not exactly 3 separate workstations.
http://www.nexuscorp.com/FixtureSubCatDetail.asp?fId=3&fscId=4
Benching: Palletized Rolling Benches
These huge set-ups are lot of them are sub-irrigation/wicking. Mostly because doing overhead irrigation when everything can move is a super big headache. Yes farmbox could be in one location and each of the rolling benches could be brought to it. The palletised system exists to make better use of floor space. Because once a bed gets too wide it basically impossible to work on as a human. So moving modules means less area in greenhouse lost to walkways.
I agree for planting, weed control and pre-planting farmbox xyz frame may be able to find it place in different places in current day conventional agriculture but is is part futurism because setting a test system of the existing is not cheep.
Please note I am not looking at farmbot as an replacement to conventional agriculture but there is a lot of things like wicking farmbot should be considering from conventional agriculture.