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Courtney Belcher

Courtney Belcher

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Supplies

  1. Batteries

    1. 1x Camera Battery

      1. For SVCam: there should be a power cable that connects the Bench Bot to the camera (this cable will stay with the bench bot)

    2. 1x Flash Battery

      1. For SVCam: make sure the battery is charged before deployment

    3. 4x Amiga Li-ion Batteries with 4x Keys

  2. Camera with Attached Lens (handle with care)

  3. Flash

    1. For SVCam flash system (Godox AD1200 Pro) includes flash bulb and flash box

  4. USB-A to USB-C Cable

    1. For SVCam: this should be an ethernet trailing cable

  5. Measuring Tape

  6. Color Checker

  7. Stool

  8. Grease gun/lubrication

1. Setup Bench Bot Flash

  1. Jack needs to be plugged into flash

  2. cable from camera to flash

1. Setup Bench Bot and Camera

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Attach the camera and lens if separated.

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Replace the battery in the camera if low.

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Attach camera to the flash bracket. It is held in place by a screw and two washers. Try to align camera lens to parallel with the ground as best you can, and tighten as much as is reasonable. If the camera is too loose, it does not have a risk of falling but the BBot’s movement can jostle it and cause it to be pointed at an angle, which can lead to the amiga being in frame, pot edges being cut-off, etc. if this was not anticipated.

...

BB V3.1 - SVCam

NC, TX

BBV 3.0 - Sony Camera

MD

Power:

  •  Charged flash battery
  •  BB camera power cable
  •  4 Amiga Lithium Ion Batteries
  •  4 Battery Keys

Power:

  •  Charged flash battery
  •  Charged camera battery
  •  4 Amiga Lithium Ion Batteries
  •  4 Battery Keys

Flash:

  •  Godox AD1200 Pro (flash bulb & flash box)

Flash:

  •  _______ Flash

USB:

  •  Ethernet cable

USB:

  •  Fan setup for camera if applicable
  •  Color Checker
  •  Color Checker
  •  UI Cover
  •  UI Cover
  •  Measuring Tape
  •  Measuring Tape

Other:

Small Step Ladder

Grease Gun

Other:

Small Step Ladder

Grease Gun

1. Setup Flash

  1. Plug jack into flash.

  2. Run camera cable to flash.

2. Setup BBot & Camera

  1. Unscrew the protective ethernet cap on the BBot box USB port (put somewhere safe).

  4. On the Amiga interface, click the “Auto” tab on the left (it is an A surrounded by a circle). On this page, turn auto-control on. The light on the joystick should be orange or blue. When this is on, the BBot will be able to control itself (so the Y-axis is now controlled), but the joystick will be unresponsive. To make further BBot adjustments with the joystick, you may turn this off when needed. Make sure to turn back on after making your adjustments, however, because if BBot is started with this “off,” then it will be unable to move forward and will continuously take images of the same row.

BB V3.1 - SVCam

NC, TX

BBV 3.0 - Sony Camera

MD

  1. Attach camera to flash bracket.

    1. Align camera lens parallel with the ground.

    2. Tighten screw & two washers until sturdy.

  1. Attach camera to BBot bracket.

    1. Slide the black triangle piece on camera bracket into the piece toward the bottom of the

...

    1. Z-axis.

    2. Make sure to have a strong grip on the flash/camera and

...

    1. have a hand below the camera

...

  1. remove lens cap if needed, and keep handy as it will need to be replaced during pack-up stage

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Unscrew the cap (keep handy as it will need to be replaced during pack-up stage) on the BBot box USB port. At this point, you may attach the camera to the box via the USB-C to USB-A cable (ethernet trailing cable for NC site). If using a long cable, make sure it does not hang below the camera so that it does not get in any of the photos.

...

    1. , ensuring it does not drop to the ground.

    2. Remove lens cap.

  1. Unscrew the protective cap on the BBot power box. Inside is a USB port

  1. Plug the green ethernet trailing cable into ________, connecting camera to the BBot.

  1. Plug USB-A to USB-C cable into USB port and camera respectively.

    1. If cable has extra slack, make sure it is not dangling in view of lens

  1. It is advisable to put a sunshade over the camera.

  1. Place the

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  1. 4 Amiga batteries into

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  1. their slot above each wheel

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    1. Slides into internal track as it is easy to miss.

  1. Insert key into each battery.

    1. When turning from “Unlocked” to “Off”,

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    1. gentle pressure must be applied towards the battery.

    2. A peg will push out of the

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    1. underside of the battery, entering a hole in the

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    1. metal panel of the Amiga.

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    2. If not unlocking, the battery

...

    1. is likely misaligned. Try reinserting the battery.

  1. Plug the dangling power

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  1. cable into each respective battery.

  1. Turn

...

  1. the

...

  1. key to the “On” position.

    1. Boot up will commence.

  1. Remove cover from Amiga interface if applicable.

  2. Press start.

  3. **Reduce motor speed to 4 bars (

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  1. value of 80)

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  1. **

    1. Adverse conditions could occur if left at default setting.

  1. Adjust BBot alignment if needed using the joystick. At MD, the bench itself is a little curved so it can be difficult to get a straight alignment. Try your best to get the BBot wheels to be as parallel as you can with the left and right edges of the pots. It is okay to pause the BBot when it is running to make quick alignment adjustments later when you are conducting the batch collection. When choosing a starting place, make sure the camera is above the first row.

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On the Amiga interface, click the “Auto” tab on the left (it is an A surrounded by a circle). On this page, turn auto-control on. The light on the joystick should be orange or blue. When this is on, the BBot will be able to control itself (so the Y-axis is now controlled), but the joystick will be unresponsive. To make further BBot adjustments with the joystick, you may turn this off when needed. Make sure to turn back on after making your adjustments, however, because if BBot is started with this “off,” then it will be unable to move forward and will continuously take images of the same row.

...

3. Weed Potting Area

Discard non-target weeds or overlapping plants by pulling them, shaking off their soil, and placing them into a bucket or bag. Do not leave removed weeds or plants on pots or on the landscape fabric. This is to avoid detecting them in the images that we collect.

  1. Remove overlapping target weeds in all pots

  2. Remove non-target weeds from pots and from the background area

    1. Check inside the pots for non-target weeds

    2. Check and remove weeds growing from underneath the pots

    3. Check for and remove weeds growing on the landscape fabric

...

...

4. Check Camera and Flash Settings

Make sure that the camera settings match what is listed in the camera settings table

  1. Check aperture is correct

  2. Check that the focus is correct

  3. Check the flash power

  4. Check height of the lens from the potting soil surface using a measuring tape

  5. Place the color checker in frame of the starting position

  6. Open the BBot app on the BBot interface and press the “take image” button to take a test image.

Camera and Flash Settings Table4. Check and Adjust BBot App Settings

  1. To avoid the Amiga/BBot frame being in the images, we start the camera at a position further in the X-axis, away from its right/leftmost position, which I am referring to as “0”. To get the camera into proper position, move the camera to the “0” position so that it is at its standard starting place, and then move it whatever distance your site species in the table below (the “x-axis starting” column).

  2. If you are changing your species map (or need to replace it, as sometimes it will clear itself when restarting the app or BBot), use the “Species Map” tab to build it. Use the information in the table corresponding to your site to build the species map. At the moment, what you select for the “species” itself does not matter (we do not use that metadata and there are limited options). Just make sure to select a species from the list. If you leave it as “none”, BBot will not take images there. After making your settings, click add rows and your map will appear on the right side of the screen. If it looks good to you, then press “Save.” If you do not press save, then the map will not appear in the “Traversal” tab and you will have to rebuild it.

BenchBot App Programmed

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Settings Table

Site

Semi-Field Potting Area Dimensions

Semi-Field Physical Pot Layout

BB App Programmed Settings

camera settings

Camera Settings

Notes

Site

Width

length

Num Pots Per

(m)

Length (m)

Pots/Row

Number of Rows

On-Center pot spacing (in)

Programmed Number of Rows

Pots

Per

/Row

Pot Spacing (cm)

Row spacing (cm)

X-axis starting (cm)

Z-axis height

Height of lens

(cm)

Lens height over pot surface (cm)

aperture

Aperture

flash

Flash power

focus

Focus

NC

15

43

40

+

58cm

58

170cm

170

13-15

1/1

21

updated

Updated 12/04/2024

NC

7.0m

33.5m

15

50

1.5 ft

15

15

43 cm

43 cm

58 cm

1.7 m

updated 11/12/2024

MD (BARC)

TX

MD

6.

1m

1

39.

0m

0

80

11

45cm

45

30cm

30

40

cm

Updated 10/19/2024

NCSU

7.0m

33.5m

79

8

53 cm

38 cm

NCSU Test 1 7/9/24

7.0m

33.5m

40

19

39

25

Start with 3cm offset from home on X axis. Failed reconstruction, however significant improvement. Amiga not removed from FOV

NCSU Test 2 7/11/24

40

17

39

25

Start with 54cm offset

Amiga should not appear in pics

NCSU 7/15/24 to Present

Variable

15

45 cm

30 cm

Start with 73cm offset

Amiga should not appear in pics (but will if the camera is tilted).

NCSU

10/30/24

15

21

46cm

25

15

46 cm

46 cm

this is the start of the collection season. this is the first setting to try

TX

5. Begin the Batch

  1. Start BBot collection via the “run” button on the “Traversal” tab

  2. Stick around for at least the first two rows to ensure everything is working properly. If the BBot is not rolling forward after a row, then the auto button on the Amiga interface is likely in the wrong state (the joystick light should be blue or orange, not white).

  3. Move the color checker, once it will no longer be in anymore images, to a new spot ahead of the BBot. I personally put it at the start of every species. It is good to have the color checker in a batch several times, as lighting conditions do change throughout the day.

  4. Every now and then, when BBot reaches the ends of a row, check these outermost photos to make sure the pot is fully in the frame and no Amiga is in frame. If either of these happened, then your camera may not be parallel to the ground, or you may need to adjust BBot’s position with the joystick.

  5. Depending on site, you may have to replace the flash battery every once and a while.

    1. At MD, our BBot does not charge the flash as it goes along, so the battery is not gaining any charge. I find that the Battery lasts about 2.5 species normally, so I like to change it out at the end of the second species and the end of the fourth species. Make sure to pause the BBot traversal before doing so, and also when you slip the new battery in, turn the flash on. The flash does not automatically turn on (even if it was still on when your removed the old battery), so you will have to manually turn it on again. Always have your flash batteries charging in case you are ready at any moment.

6. Packing-Up

  1. Return BBot to its starting position.

  2. Reapply lens cap to camera lens if needed

  3. Unplug the camera cable, and screw the USB-port cap back onto the BBot box.

  4. Take the camera off the BBot. At the triangle mounting spot, there is a little tab you will need to press in to disengage the mount. When holding that tab in, you will be able to lift the camera/flash out. I like to have one hand dedicated to the tab, and another below the flash, holding it and pushing up.

  5. Pack away any accessories you brought out (Color Checker, Tweezers, etc.).

  6. Turn off Amiga batteries and unplug them.

  7. Bring everything inside, and charge all batteries so that they are ready for the next batch collection.

7. Trouble Shooting Issues

No images taken

In the mini-computer (via piKVM)

While in the mini-computer, you execute localhost:5000/image in the address bar, and this message is returned:

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If BBot starts taking images in the same spot and seems unable to move (both X-Axis and Y-Axis motors), I have had success just restarting the BBot app with that every time. Just close the app and reopen it.

Examples of Plant Spacing and Non-Target Weeds

Non-target weeds

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Plant spacing

Avoid overlapping plants. Thin plants when they do overlap. Be liberal when thinning plants. We don’t need to worry about having enough plants. It’s more important to have no overlap than it is to have more plants per plot.

Prioritize no-overlap for plant within a pot and no-overlap of plants from different pots. View below for examples of good plant spacing.

Within-Pot Plant Spacing

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Between-Pot Plant Spacing

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