Imperial Agribot
| Imperial Agribot | |
|---|---|
 Four treads, one arm, near-zero notice | |
| Tech Level | TL–10 |
| Mass | 10 tons |
| Cost | Cr209,000 |
| Mode | Ground (Tracked) |
| Type | Cargo Vehicle |
| Speed | 150 kph |
| Cargo | 0 |
| Crew | 0 |
| Passengers | 0 |
| Planting and harvesting bot, common as the dirt it travels upon | |
An Imperial Agribot is a tracked agricultural harvesting and transport vehicle designed to plant and harvest crops.
Description (Specifications)
The Imperial Agribot is a well-known, widely-used agricultural robot, thanks to its origin in the First Imperium (see History & Background below).
The agribot accomplishes the functions of a soil tiller, combine, picker, planter, sprayer, and more types of agricultural vehicles using its multifunctional arm. With proper directions for the crops it will be tending to, it can perform all necessary labor for the full cycle from planting through harvest. Precise mapping and good sensors allow analysis and care for several acres at a time. The onboard computer comes loaded with an agriculture-focused database, providing extensive reference with which to diagnose problems and ensure optimal crop yields. In many cases, it only needs to be provided with seedlings and a field of good soil, or a field of existing crops, and told to go do its thing.
It also runs a translator program so as to communicate with any sophonts encountered, albeit only to answer simple questions and classify the danger level they pose, so as to decide whether to ignore them, inform their owners, or alert local law enforcement. It is stronger and much faster than most sophonts and knows it, so lost but friendly sophonts may be offered a ride to nearby facilities, if only to quickly and efficiently remove them from the fields the agribot is working.
One deliberate weakness of the design is its limited range. It runs on batteries that can be quickly swapped at a charging station, which in turn usually runs on local solar power or the local community power plant. Its 4 ton cargo capacity is more of a compromise than a weakness: much larger would make for a substantially more expensive vehicle, while much smaller would require more trips to drop off produce or pick up supplies making it significantly less efficient.
The articulated tracks, with the associated split between cargo in the rear and engine, arm, and sensors in the front, give a high degree of agility for maneuvering through sometimes-dense vegetation. The sensors (split between the cab and manipulator hand) allow fine judgment of crop conditions, such as fruit ripeness when deciding which specific crops to harvest and which to leave for later.
History & Background (Dossier)
The exact origins are lost to history, but apparently this design was invented during the First Imperium and distributed widely, as an example of what standard Vilani technology could do. Barbarian states that had not yet achieved TL-10 became reliant on Vilani technicians, while other states could be afforded the dream of achieving self-reliance without advancing to the point that they might advance to TL-11 and discover Jump-2 technology, which the Vilani hoarded for themselves.
During the Long Night, wherever local technology regressed below (or had never achieved) TL-10, the Imperial Agribot became a symbol of unsustainable technology. Agribots broke down on countless worlds once spare parts ran out. The design survived on worlds where spare parts were available, and was eventually reintroduced across the Third Imperium as the new Imperium grew. On many worlds, it is now a symbol of the necessity and benefit of the trade network that is the Third Imperium's lifeblood: spare parts in, food and other agricultural goods out. There exists many a trade route, sometimes in the same system, between a farm essentially run by agribots and an asteroid mining colony with basic manufacturing capability (to turn ores into agribot parts).
An Imperial Agribot is an investment, generally only used by farms that have been and expect to be around for a while. Depending on local wages, crop density, and other factors, full payback can take anywhere from 5 to 60 years - but it does happen eventually, so long as the farm and the agribot are kept in working order, there remains a market for the crops, and so on. Many agribots are bought on mortgage, similar to but much smaller than spaceship mortgages, many times from the same institutions that offer spaceship mortgages.
References & Contributors (Sources)
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- Author & Contributor: Adrian Tymes