WEBVTT - Building a Self-Driving Tractor to Change the Future of Food 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:22.876 Pushkin. Just a quick note, today's episode is the last 0:00:22.956 --> 0:00:26.076 one of twenty twenty five and for twenty twenty six. 0:00:26.396 --> 0:00:28.236 We want to make the show better. We want to 0:00:28.236 --> 0:00:31.356 make a show that you like more. To that end, 0:00:31.516 --> 0:00:34.916 it would be extremely helpful to us and hopefully ultimately 0:00:34.916 --> 0:00:37.916 also helpful to you if you could take a brief 0:00:37.956 --> 0:00:41.556 survey that we have put together online. There's a link 0:00:41.596 --> 0:00:43.596 to the survey in the show notes, and I'll give 0:00:43.636 --> 0:00:49.916 you the url. It's TinyURL dot com slash wyp listener 0:00:49.956 --> 0:00:55.956 survey again TinyURL dot com slash wyp like what's your 0:00:55.996 --> 0:00:59.316 problem listener survey, or just click on the link in 0:00:59.356 --> 0:01:02.036 the show notes. Thank you very much for listening to 0:01:02.116 --> 0:01:04.436 the show, and thank you in advance for helping us 0:01:04.516 --> 0:01:08.876 make the show better. Tim Booker grew up on his 0:01:08.916 --> 0:01:12.756 fan family's dairy farm in rural northern California. 0:01:13.276 --> 0:01:15.556 You know how when you're a kid, you always wait 0:01:15.596 --> 0:01:18.916 for summer vacation from school. My brother and I we 0:01:19.716 --> 0:01:24.156 actually we hated summer vacation because that meant, you know, 0:01:24.236 --> 0:01:26.876 eighty hours a week of work out in the open field. 0:01:26.956 --> 0:01:28.796 So you know, our friends would always say, oh, I 0:01:28.836 --> 0:01:31.436 can't wait until school's out. And we would go no, 0:01:31.676 --> 0:01:33.636 I want to stay in school. 0:01:34.116 --> 0:01:37.556 Tim went off to college, started out studying agriculture, but 0:01:37.676 --> 0:01:41.836 switched to computer science, and after he graduated he founded 0:01:41.876 --> 0:01:45.156 a string of companies. One of them he sold to Microsoft, 0:01:45.436 --> 0:01:48.396 now that he sold to Apple. But all along he 0:01:48.516 --> 0:01:52.916 kept farming on the side, and eventually his farming life 0:01:52.996 --> 0:01:55.556 and his tech life came together. As just kind of 0:01:55.596 --> 0:01:58.636 a weekend side project on the farm he and a 0:01:58.676 --> 0:02:03.476 few friends built on autonomous tractor. That weekend side project 0:02:03.596 --> 0:02:07.556 has now turned into a company powering autonomous tractors across 0:02:07.596 --> 0:02:17.596 the western US and part of Australia. I'm Jacob Goldstein 0:02:17.636 --> 0:02:19.396 and this is What's Your Problem, the show where I 0:02:19.436 --> 0:02:22.436 talk to people who are trying to make technological progress. 0:02:22.916 --> 0:02:26.076 My guest today is Tim Booker. He's a longtime farmer 0:02:26.196 --> 0:02:30.636 and the founder and CEO of Agtonomy. Tim's problem is this, 0:02:31.276 --> 0:02:35.356 how do you bring autonomous vehicles to specialty crops, crops 0:02:35.436 --> 0:02:41.036 like grapes and olives and almonds and apples. There's already 0:02:41.276 --> 0:02:44.996 lots of autonomous equipment for row crops like corn and 0:02:45.036 --> 0:02:49.476 wheat and soybeans, but as you'll hear, specialty crops present 0:02:49.556 --> 0:02:53.036 a particularly tricky set of challenges. Tim and I talked 0:02:53.036 --> 0:02:56.756 about the big picture about what autonomy will mean for 0:02:56.796 --> 0:03:00.556 farming and for food. But to start, I asked him 0:03:00.556 --> 0:03:03.836 about how he got from farming to computer science in 0:03:03.876 --> 0:03:08.756 the first place. So you go off to college study 0:03:08.756 --> 0:03:12.196 agricate culture Davis as a California farm kid does. 0:03:12.276 --> 0:03:12.476 Right. 0:03:13.036 --> 0:03:15.796 And did I hear you say in another interview that 0:03:15.836 --> 0:03:19.636 you lost a bet and as a result of losing 0:03:19.636 --> 0:03:22.076 the bet, had to take a computer science class. 0:03:23.356 --> 0:03:24.316 Yes, you heard right. 0:03:24.836 --> 0:03:27.196 What was the bet? Let's just say it was. 0:03:27.156 --> 0:03:30.876 At a fraternity party, so it might have involved you know, 0:03:30.916 --> 0:03:32.316 it might have involved beer. I don't know. 0:03:32.796 --> 0:03:35.956 I like that it's a drunken fraternity party that leads 0:03:35.996 --> 0:03:39.156 you into a career as a computer scientist. Like that 0:03:39.236 --> 0:03:40.436 is an interesting combination. 0:03:40.916 --> 0:03:43.036 Yeah, it was the It was the greatest bet I 0:03:43.036 --> 0:03:47.436 ever lost. But what was what was interesting? I all 0:03:47.476 --> 0:03:50.156 my friends growing up, their last names were Sagatio, of 0:03:50.236 --> 0:03:53.796 a Piano, Bach, Galupi, Gallo. These are incredible grape growing 0:03:53.796 --> 0:03:56.956 in why making families back in the seventies, even and 0:03:58.476 --> 0:04:01.196 I would always go over to their places to, you know, 0:04:01.436 --> 0:04:03.996 help them, because that's what playdates were back then. Is 0:04:04.036 --> 0:04:06.556 you basically went over to your friend's farm and worked 0:04:06.556 --> 0:04:09.956 with them, and I would learn how to prune grapes 0:04:09.996 --> 0:04:13.436 and even make wine. And I was fascinated by that industry, 0:04:13.596 --> 0:04:17.196 like incredibly fascinated by the growing of grapes. So, you know, 0:04:17.236 --> 0:04:21.316 I went to UC Davis for agriculture, and yes, I 0:04:21.356 --> 0:04:24.476 lost a bet and took a class in a five 0:04:24.556 --> 0:04:28.396 hundred person auditorium. Now keep in mind, I didn't grow 0:04:28.436 --> 0:04:31.236 up with any technology. I mean like tractors. That was 0:04:31.276 --> 0:04:36.316 about it. But the professor started talking and I'm in 0:04:36.356 --> 0:04:40.756 the last row, and the professor started talking, and everything 0:04:40.796 --> 0:04:44.356 he was saying I understood, and it just kind. 0:04:44.196 --> 0:04:44.796 Of hit me. 0:04:45.636 --> 0:04:47.876 And by the end of that quarter, you see Davis 0:04:47.956 --> 0:04:51.196 on the quarter system. I was upfront teaching the class, 0:04:51.996 --> 0:04:55.996 and so I knew something happened, like I found a passion, 0:04:57.116 --> 0:05:01.036 like the passion I had for agriculture. And so I 0:05:01.076 --> 0:05:03.036 had a decision to make, is do do I go 0:05:03.196 --> 0:05:06.236 the agriculture route or do I go this computer science 0:05:06.316 --> 0:05:09.916 route or this you know, high tech route. And I said, 0:05:09.996 --> 0:05:12.476 you know what, I'm going to do both. I then 0:05:12.516 --> 0:05:14.996 graduated from Davis and I went on to Stanford and 0:05:15.276 --> 0:05:20.276 grad school and then started bouncing between Silicon Valley and 0:05:20.796 --> 0:05:24.236 Sonoma County because when I was sixteen, I actually bought 0:05:24.236 --> 0:05:28.156 my first vineyard, a small, little two acres, and I 0:05:28.196 --> 0:05:31.996 loved farming that and that's kind of what got me to, 0:05:32.796 --> 0:05:36.076 you know, get my own larger place, as I did 0:05:36.116 --> 0:05:40.796 through the decades, which is now called Tratory Farms Tratory 0:05:40.876 --> 0:05:44.476 which means tractor and Italian because I wanted to name 0:05:44.476 --> 0:05:49.436 it after my childhood passion. And that's where that's where 0:05:49.996 --> 0:05:53.476 kind of that whole thing started. The duality or the 0:05:54.036 --> 0:05:56.236 dual path of agriculture and high tech. 0:05:57.036 --> 0:06:00.516 You have these sort of parallel lives going for a while, Right, 0:06:00.596 --> 0:06:05.396 you're working for Steve Jobs, you're starting companies. You've got 0:06:05.436 --> 0:06:09.116 a farm up in Sonoma. A little plane you're flying 0:06:09.196 --> 0:06:15.476 back and forth, right, And so tell me about the 0:06:15.516 --> 0:06:17.916 farm part of your life, Like that's you know, we're 0:06:17.916 --> 0:06:19.676 going to bring back the technology in a minute. But 0:06:20.116 --> 0:06:23.956 you're grown up. You have a real farm, Like what's 0:06:23.996 --> 0:06:24.436 your farm? 0:06:25.796 --> 0:06:29.756 Well, it started as a small little vineyard, only two acres, 0:06:30.276 --> 0:06:33.116 and then through the years I would do what's called 0:06:33.116 --> 0:06:35.516 a ten thirty one tax free exchange and get a 0:06:35.036 --> 0:06:39.756 bigger piece of land and then, you know, I don't know, 0:06:39.756 --> 0:06:42.316 about twenty five years ago, I got a much bigger 0:06:42.316 --> 0:06:42.996 piece of land. 0:06:43.196 --> 0:06:45.516 Yeah two acres, by the way, two acres isn't even 0:06:45.556 --> 0:06:47.916 a farm, right, two acres is like a yard. 0:06:47.996 --> 0:06:52.276 Yeah, pretty much a yard. Good good call. But it 0:06:52.356 --> 0:06:57.476 was French colmbard grapes and zinfandel grapes. So so, you know, 0:06:57.556 --> 0:07:00.956 fast forward two years later, as I would kind of 0:07:00.956 --> 0:07:03.796 get bigger and bigger places, I got this one place 0:07:03.836 --> 0:07:06.996 which was amazing beautiful hillsides. I had a vision for it, 0:07:07.036 --> 0:07:09.756 but it was just a forest, and I start clearing 0:07:09.796 --> 0:07:14.036 it for you know, the intention of growing more grapes, 0:07:14.756 --> 0:07:18.996 and I encountered these stumps, you know, equidistance throughout the land, 0:07:19.036 --> 0:07:21.516 and I was like, what is this? And then finally 0:07:21.556 --> 0:07:25.356 I uncovered some old olive trees from like the eighteen hundreds, 0:07:26.036 --> 0:07:28.596 and so did some research and realized, well, this was 0:07:28.636 --> 0:07:31.316 part of a big you know, Spanish land grant growing 0:07:31.476 --> 0:07:34.356 olives back in the eighteen hundreds. So I decided to 0:07:34.356 --> 0:07:38.236 bring that history back and that's what got me into olives. 0:07:38.836 --> 0:07:42.396 So I grow olives for olive oil and grapes for wine, 0:07:42.436 --> 0:07:46.316 and I have a winery operation public tasting room, so 0:07:46.956 --> 0:07:49.316 kind of bouncing between two worlds for decades. 0:07:50.476 --> 0:07:56.636 So before you started etonomy, tell me about the way 0:07:56.676 --> 0:07:59.796 you brought technology to your farm, Like, what did you automate? 0:08:00.996 --> 0:08:04.836 Yeah? I was unique in that I was a farmer, 0:08:05.476 --> 0:08:09.076 but I was also an engineer. I had both, you know, 0:08:09.196 --> 0:08:12.836 electrical engineering background as well as computer science background, so 0:08:13.556 --> 0:08:17.876 I could do things like create you know, automated water 0:08:17.956 --> 0:08:21.636 recycling plants that you know, had the flow meters everywhere 0:08:21.636 --> 0:08:25.796 it knew, you know, how to inject different microbes to 0:08:25.836 --> 0:08:29.556 process the waste water and then inject it back into 0:08:29.596 --> 0:08:34.476 the irrigation automatically. I had, you know, obviously all kinds 0:08:34.476 --> 0:08:38.476 of basic things like cameras and whatnot. But even in 0:08:38.516 --> 0:08:43.716 the fermentation of grapes, the tanks are all computer controlled. 0:08:44.116 --> 0:08:48.596 The computer controls whether to use you know, active refrigeration, 0:08:48.716 --> 0:08:52.436 which costs energy, or if the outside air is cooler 0:08:52.476 --> 0:08:55.596 than the inside, it automatically switches over and brings that 0:08:55.676 --> 0:08:58.636 kind of air in. So you know, everything from fermentation 0:08:58.756 --> 0:09:04.356 processes to water recycling to irrigation is radically automated. So 0:09:04.396 --> 0:09:09.316 I had automated darn near everything I could, and I 0:09:09.356 --> 0:09:12.676 didn't know I was actually doing ag tech. When I 0:09:12.756 --> 0:09:15.996 was doing this, ag tech wasn't a word that existed 0:09:15.996 --> 0:09:16.316 back then. 0:09:16.396 --> 0:09:18.876 You were just like puttering around on the weekends. 0:09:19.476 --> 0:09:22.956 I was puttering around on the weekends or night times whatever. 0:09:23.596 --> 0:09:27.436 I just knew my farm needed technology to automate things, 0:09:27.436 --> 0:09:31.316 because keep in mind, I was also bouncing between Sonoma 0:09:31.356 --> 0:09:35.556 County and Silicon Valley, and so I needed technology to 0:09:35.596 --> 0:09:39.156 also be able to monitor things. Right, But there was 0:09:39.196 --> 0:09:41.636 one area I hadn't automated, and that was the actual 0:09:41.716 --> 0:09:44.916 work in the orchards and the vineyards. And I was 0:09:44.956 --> 0:09:46.996 sitting there going, hell, you know, I automated this. I 0:09:47.036 --> 0:09:49.716 automated that, Hey, maybe I should try my hand at 0:09:50.036 --> 0:09:54.196 automating the field work. There's so much money being invested 0:09:54.196 --> 0:09:57.796 in autonomous passenger vehicles, and there's so much technology that's 0:09:57.836 --> 0:10:00.676 evolved there. I wonder if I could just apply that 0:10:01.156 --> 0:10:03.756 to this space and see if I can create an 0:10:03.796 --> 0:10:07.836 autonomous vehicle that can do these kinds of repetitive tasks 0:10:08.396 --> 0:10:13.796 like mowing, like spraying, you know, like underfining cultivation, like seating, 0:10:13.956 --> 0:10:16.076 like disking, things of that nature where you're just going 0:10:16.116 --> 0:10:18.316 back and forth up and down the rows. 0:10:18.476 --> 0:10:22.236 Right, Just to be clear, there had been a fair 0:10:22.276 --> 0:10:24.876 bit of automation, right, But on the sort of big 0:10:24.876 --> 0:10:28.556 egg row crop like corn and wheat side, as I 0:10:28.636 --> 0:10:31.556 understand it, but not so much on the permanent crop 0:10:31.636 --> 0:10:33.436 kind of fruit and nut side. Is that right? Was 0:10:33.436 --> 0:10:34.436 that the sort of state of. 0:10:34.396 --> 0:10:38.716 Play exactly, Jacob So, in row crops or in broad 0:10:38.716 --> 0:10:41.636 acre farming, you know, the big million dollar tractors or 0:10:41.716 --> 0:10:45.996 half million dollar tractors, there has been automation there for decades, 0:10:46.636 --> 0:10:50.356 things called auto steer. You know, you're on these flat areas, 0:10:50.916 --> 0:10:54.756 very big fields. You can see the sky. GPS had 0:10:54.796 --> 0:10:58.676 evolved so it would be somewhat accurate, you know, a 0:10:58.716 --> 0:11:01.076 meter or whatever it might be, and so you could 0:11:01.076 --> 0:11:04.036 just control the vehicles based on that. When you think 0:11:04.076 --> 0:11:08.276 about permanent crops, which is a huge percentage value wise 0:11:08.396 --> 0:11:13.396 of our foods supply, the permanent crops, you're talking about 0:11:13.556 --> 0:11:16.876 trees and vines that are very very expensive. They take 0:11:17.316 --> 0:11:21.076 many years to develop, and so if you hit them, 0:11:21.356 --> 0:11:23.836 it's kind of a big deal. It's kind of expensive 0:11:24.676 --> 0:11:26.476 and you have to get really close to them. So 0:11:26.516 --> 0:11:28.996 you're not talking about being an open field where you 0:11:29.036 --> 0:11:30.716 can be you know, plus or minus half a meter. 0:11:31.236 --> 0:11:34.396 You're talking about being like one inch away from you know, 0:11:34.516 --> 0:11:37.916 the trunks of these trees, and if you accidentally move 0:11:38.156 --> 0:11:41.916 you know, abruptly, or you know, don't steer correctly, you're 0:11:41.916 --> 0:11:44.636 going to hit it. So you can't rely on kind 0:11:44.636 --> 0:11:47.556 of the things that you can rely on in broad 0:11:47.596 --> 0:11:51.236 acre farming and the rowe crop farming. So there needed 0:11:51.236 --> 0:11:55.076 to be more advanced technology. And thankfully, due to all 0:11:55.116 --> 0:11:58.956 the attention and investments that were being made in you know, 0:11:58.996 --> 0:12:05.356 the autonomous passenger vehicle world, that technology started to become available. 0:12:05.556 --> 0:12:08.116 You know, call it maybe less than a decade ago, 0:12:08.676 --> 0:12:11.996 but when I said, you know, kind of seven years ago, 0:12:12.076 --> 0:12:14.876 like hey, you know, my expenses are continuing to go 0:12:14.956 --> 0:12:18.636 up at tratory. I've automated DAR near everything, but I 0:12:18.676 --> 0:12:21.916 haven't automated the field work. Could we take some of 0:12:21.916 --> 0:12:25.116 that technology and could we create a solution, an autonomous 0:12:25.116 --> 0:12:29.516 solution that could do these repetitive tasks that you need 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:33.756 to do in permanent crops. And so with some friends 0:12:33.956 --> 0:12:38.876 built a prototype five years ago and the prototype worked 0:12:38.916 --> 0:12:43.716 really well. We literally built an all electric autonomous tractor. 0:12:44.596 --> 0:12:46.316 What did it look like and what did it do? 0:12:46.916 --> 0:12:49.556 Didn't look like a traditional tractor. We took out the 0:12:49.556 --> 0:12:54.876 diesel engine. We put in electric motors and batteries, and 0:12:54.996 --> 0:12:58.116 we put on cameras and we had you know, an 0:12:58.196 --> 0:13:02.436 Nvidia compute system in it, and we started to create 0:13:02.516 --> 0:13:07.796 this sensor based vehicle. It had eight wheels, it articulated, 0:13:07.956 --> 0:13:10.076 and it could do really steep st and one of 0:13:10.116 --> 0:13:12.276 the reason why we did that is because that tratory 0:13:12.396 --> 0:13:15.716 the slopes are very very steep. By the way, one 0:13:15.716 --> 0:13:18.676 of the main inspirations for doing this autonomous vehicle came 0:13:18.716 --> 0:13:22.636 from a documentary I watched. I think it was a 0:13:22.716 --> 0:13:25.756 National geographic. It was called Mission to Mars, The Story 0:13:25.756 --> 0:13:28.756 of Spirit and Opportunity. And these were Mars rovers in 0:13:28.796 --> 0:13:33.236 the nineties that NASA shot up and we're hoping would 0:13:33.316 --> 0:13:37.076 operate for you know, fifteen days or you know, a 0:13:37.076 --> 0:13:39.636 couple of months, and they ended up lasting almost fifteen years. 0:13:40.156 --> 0:13:43.756 And I was watching this documentary before I actually built 0:13:43.756 --> 0:13:47.836 this prototype, and it reminded me that, hey, there are 0:13:47.956 --> 0:13:53.076 environments where you can take your time in making decisions. 0:13:53.476 --> 0:13:56.676 So they had animations of how the rover would approach 0:13:56.676 --> 0:13:58.756 a rock and it would just stop and then it 0:13:58.756 --> 0:14:02.116 would radio JPL, you know, take some time to radio JPL. 0:14:02.196 --> 0:14:04.716 They would take a week and write some new code. 0:14:04.716 --> 0:14:07.116 They would then download it, and then the vehicle, the 0:14:07.196 --> 0:14:10.356 rover would move to the left that whenever it encountered 0:14:10.356 --> 0:14:12.036 a rock, it would move to the laughter to the right. 0:14:12.636 --> 0:14:14.636 And I said to myself, my god, you know, they 0:14:15.076 --> 0:14:18.996 had autonomous vehicles operating on Mars in the nineties and 0:14:19.036 --> 0:14:21.036 they could do it because there wasn't a lot of 0:14:21.036 --> 0:14:25.196 traffic on Mars, just like agriculture. And that's when my 0:14:25.276 --> 0:14:28.236 head really exploded and I said, wait, there are these 0:14:28.276 --> 0:14:33.636 industrial markets that need automation, and you don't necessarily have 0:14:33.756 --> 0:14:39.516 to immediately, you know, be responsive to the vehicle if 0:14:39.516 --> 0:14:42.876 it encounters something it can't figure out, like oh, there's 0:14:42.876 --> 0:14:43.716 a tree in front of. 0:14:43.636 --> 0:14:48.796 Me, unlike on a road in traffic. Correct. Correct, So 0:14:48.876 --> 0:14:52.116 when you build this prototype that you don't even know 0:14:52.196 --> 0:14:54.236 is a prototype as you're telling it, right, this thing 0:14:54.316 --> 0:14:57.876 that you're doing with your friends, I mean it sounds 0:14:57.916 --> 0:15:00.076 like a lot of the sort of tex stack is 0:15:00.116 --> 0:15:02.556 basically commodified by that point. I mean, is it a 0:15:02.636 --> 0:15:05.236 sort of you're at this moment where you can be like, oh, well, 0:15:05.236 --> 0:15:08.636 buy these sensors and we'll start with this piece of software, 0:15:08.676 --> 0:15:12.076 and like you can almost build an autonomous vehicle from 0:15:12.156 --> 0:15:15.036 off the shelf parts. Is that sort of the starting point. 0:15:14.756 --> 0:15:18.556 From a hardware perspective. Absolutely, from a software perspective, no, 0:15:20.276 --> 0:15:22.356 at that time, so no, we were actually building a 0:15:22.356 --> 0:15:26.156 perception stack, you know that could you know do all 0:15:26.196 --> 0:15:27.876 the Well, first you had to localize, so you have 0:15:27.916 --> 0:15:29.316 to figure out where in the world do you are, 0:15:30.396 --> 0:15:32.516 And so we did need to see GPS at least once, 0:15:33.476 --> 0:15:36.996 but then the computer vision technologies and the perception stack 0:15:37.076 --> 0:15:40.836 could then align to the crop itself. One of the 0:15:40.836 --> 0:15:44.796 big differences that in approach that we took that obviously 0:15:44.876 --> 0:15:46.916 the row crops, the broad acre farms don't need to 0:15:46.956 --> 0:15:51.116 do is we actually said, hey, what if we exploit 0:15:51.156 --> 0:15:55.236 the structure the crop itself and utilize that structure to 0:15:55.316 --> 0:15:59.196 navigate safely through it and farm precisely around it. 0:15:59.796 --> 0:16:02.476 Meaning like know what a tree is and know what 0:16:02.516 --> 0:16:04.756 your relationship should be to a tree. Is that what 0:16:04.796 --> 0:16:06.196 that means? Correct? 0:16:06.396 --> 0:16:09.316 And in the early days we said, hey, there's one 0:16:09.436 --> 0:16:13.476 common characteristic and permanent crops. They all have a trunk, 0:16:14.316 --> 0:16:18.116 So what if we could be the best detectors of 0:16:18.156 --> 0:16:22.396 trunks in the world and utilize that for alignment? And 0:16:22.556 --> 0:16:25.396 as I said, also you know, working around that plant. 0:16:25.756 --> 0:16:28.236 So that's the key sort of training piece, Like you 0:16:28.356 --> 0:16:30.636 train really hard on trunks. 0:16:30.556 --> 0:16:33.956 That's right, that's right. We initially labeled trunks. We would 0:16:34.036 --> 0:16:36.636 drive through, we would get you know, tons of photos 0:16:37.076 --> 0:16:41.316 and we would manually label around the trunk area. And 0:16:41.356 --> 0:16:44.036 then we would take those images and we would tweak 0:16:44.076 --> 0:16:47.756 them and create synthetic data and we would label those 0:16:48.396 --> 0:16:51.156 and once you get enough of a data set, you 0:16:51.196 --> 0:16:54.636 can start to do some additional machine learning with that, right. 0:16:55.396 --> 0:16:58.036 And what was interesting was, you know, we got so 0:16:58.156 --> 0:17:00.716 good at detecting trunks. We even called it trunk vision. 0:17:00.836 --> 0:17:04.436 We trademark trunk vision. Not that you know, we do 0:17:04.476 --> 0:17:07.676 a lot more than trunk vision today, but that's how 0:17:07.836 --> 0:17:09.956 that's how we got it to, you know, run through 0:17:10.036 --> 0:17:12.836 the orchards and run through the vineyards. And what was 0:17:12.916 --> 0:17:16.716 really interesting is we initially trained on grapes, on grapevines 0:17:17.276 --> 0:17:22.196 and the rootstock right the trunk. And one day my CTOs, 0:17:22.476 --> 0:17:24.876 you know, he said, hey, let's run it in the olives. 0:17:25.516 --> 0:17:27.316 And I'm like, oh, but you know, you're sure it's 0:17:27.316 --> 0:17:29.036 going to work. He's like, I don't know if it's 0:17:29.036 --> 0:17:31.756 going to work. I don't know how well the training 0:17:31.796 --> 0:17:34.636 will translate. And so we set it off in the 0:17:34.716 --> 0:17:39.596 Olives and it just worked. Now, it wasn't perfect, but 0:17:40.196 --> 0:17:42.796 it made us realize, Wow, there's a lot of leverage 0:17:42.836 --> 0:17:46.836 between crops here in these permanent crop areas. Generalizes, it 0:17:46.916 --> 0:17:50.996 generalizes really well. And of course he's continued to evolve that, 0:17:51.196 --> 0:17:53.436 and you know, we now do all kinds of additional 0:17:53.796 --> 0:17:56.916 training to make sure in a new crop type we 0:17:56.956 --> 0:18:00.516 are very very accurate in exploiting the structure of the crop. 0:18:01.116 --> 0:18:05.316 Besides driving through trees without hitting them, which I recognize 0:18:05.356 --> 0:18:08.316 as non trivial, what else did the tractor do? Did 0:18:08.316 --> 0:18:08.996 it do work? 0:18:09.836 --> 0:18:14.036 Yes, it did work. It mowed initially. The very very 0:18:14.116 --> 0:18:16.356 very first job we did was mowing because we have 0:18:16.436 --> 0:18:18.836 cover crop. Sometimes the cover crop gets like six feet 0:18:18.876 --> 0:18:22.076 tall and you chop it up with a flail mower 0:18:22.996 --> 0:18:26.076 and then it composts in between the trees or the 0:18:26.156 --> 0:18:30.196 vines and and even that, like you think mowing, Oh yeah, 0:18:30.236 --> 0:18:31.836 you just set it at four miles an hour and 0:18:31.876 --> 0:18:34.396 you let it go. You cannot do that, right, because 0:18:34.436 --> 0:18:36.636 think about what a human does. The human's on a vehicle. 0:18:37.596 --> 0:18:40.956 It's really funny. I asked my engineers you know, well, 0:18:40.996 --> 0:18:42.556 did you ever use a push mower when you were 0:18:42.596 --> 0:18:45.836 a kid, And they're like, what's a push mower? Anyway? 0:18:45.876 --> 0:18:49.356 Separate topic, but pushmore is really hard. It's harder than 0:18:49.396 --> 0:18:53.236 you think that was th pushover means the more without 0:18:53.276 --> 0:18:56.036 an engine. It doesn't just mean a gas mower that 0:18:56.076 --> 0:18:56.556 you put. 0:18:56.516 --> 0:18:59.916 Right right right and then and then you know, we 0:18:59.956 --> 0:19:04.356 got motorized mowers for lawns, right that you that you 0:19:04.396 --> 0:19:06.756 know actually had wheels and had an engine on them. 0:19:07.116 --> 0:19:09.036 But even with those, if you would go through the 0:19:10.036 --> 0:19:14.596 and if it would bog down, as the person operating 0:19:14.676 --> 0:19:18.076 that lawn mower, you would slow it down in order 0:19:18.116 --> 0:19:21.556 for the blades to catch up, right. And so if 0:19:21.596 --> 0:19:24.276 you think about it, you can't just set a tractor 0:19:24.316 --> 0:19:28.556 going to mow. You need to get that feedback to 0:19:28.716 --> 0:19:32.396 understand if it's bogging down, and therefore you need to 0:19:32.476 --> 0:19:35.996 slow down or increase the RPM in order to do 0:19:36.076 --> 0:19:37.036 the job properly. 0:19:37.636 --> 0:19:37.836 Right. 0:19:38.436 --> 0:19:42.756 So that's something we learned immediately, But we already thought 0:19:42.756 --> 0:19:45.716 about that because we were all farmers. We had farmer 0:19:45.876 --> 0:19:48.636 DNA in us, and we knew that's how a human operated. 0:19:48.676 --> 0:19:50.996 So we just we started to think, Okay, how does 0:19:51.036 --> 0:19:53.276 a human do this? And what are the things we're 0:19:53.276 --> 0:19:56.476 gonna need feedback on like a human has in order 0:19:56.516 --> 0:19:59.876 to get the job done correctly. So we started with 0:19:59.956 --> 0:20:02.276 mowing and we became really really good at it. 0:20:02.876 --> 0:20:06.276 So you have your prototype and you decide to start 0:20:06.316 --> 0:20:11.276 a company. What do you have to do to turn 0:20:11.316 --> 0:20:15.916 your prototype into you know, something you can sell? Like, yeah, 0:20:15.956 --> 0:20:17.676 what's the what's the leap? 0:20:18.276 --> 0:20:22.596 Yeah, this was a big leap. You know. My mechanical 0:20:22.596 --> 0:20:25.556 engineering co founders was like, you know, whipping up all 0:20:25.636 --> 0:20:29.516 kinds of cool ideas. And then I thought about it 0:20:29.556 --> 0:20:32.036 as a farmer, and I said, wait a minute, as 0:20:32.076 --> 0:20:36.516 a grower, would I trust a startup company, you know, 0:20:36.676 --> 0:20:41.276 for a new tractor? Think about it, right, I'm a 0:20:41.316 --> 0:20:46.596 farm I rely upon equipment to get my job done, 0:20:47.436 --> 0:20:51.916 and that job is vital for the livelihood of the business, 0:20:52.156 --> 0:20:55.316 for the livelihood of the family if it's a family farm. 0:20:55.596 --> 0:21:00.836 So why would I trust a startup instead? What I 0:21:00.916 --> 0:21:04.396 need as a grower is I need trusted brands. I 0:21:04.476 --> 0:21:06.996 need their dealer networks. I need the parts, I need 0:21:06.996 --> 0:21:11.476 the service. This this equipment needs to be operating all 0:21:11.516 --> 0:21:14.916 the times that I need it for the sustainability of 0:21:14.956 --> 0:21:18.316 my business. And so I said to my colleagues, I said, 0:21:18.356 --> 0:21:20.396 you know what, I don't think we should build a tractor. 0:21:20.796 --> 0:21:23.676 I think that would be rather stupid. And I explained why, 0:21:23.716 --> 0:21:26.876 and they said, oh, that makes sense, and they said, well, 0:21:27.116 --> 0:21:32.276 how can we work with existing original equipment manufacturers? These 0:21:32.316 --> 0:21:34.916 incredible equipment manufacturers who've been at it for over one 0:21:34.956 --> 0:21:40.316 hundred years and they build incredible vehicles that really work 0:21:40.396 --> 0:21:44.596 well in these harsh environments. And so you know, at 0:21:44.636 --> 0:21:47.476 first investors that I was talking about, Hey, we're going 0:21:47.516 --> 0:21:50.476 to do an OEM model and you know, original equipment manufacturer, 0:21:50.956 --> 0:21:55.316 we're going to help accelerate their digital transformation because we 0:21:55.356 --> 0:21:57.676 know where the puck is going, right. We know that 0:21:57.996 --> 0:22:01.276 this industry too, just like other industries, needs to go 0:22:01.316 --> 0:22:04.876 through a digital transformation. Every day there's less and less 0:22:04.916 --> 0:22:09.476 skilled operators who go into agriculture. So the equipment manufacturer know, 0:22:09.876 --> 0:22:12.516 you know, they see the writing on the wall. They're 0:22:12.516 --> 0:22:14.756 not going to sell as much equipment because like there's 0:22:14.796 --> 0:22:17.916 less people to operate them. So they know automation is 0:22:17.956 --> 0:22:21.516 really important, and they know how to build incredible iron, 0:22:21.596 --> 0:22:23.996 but do they know how to build an AI factory? 0:22:24.676 --> 0:22:26.676 And that's what I said, you know we would focus 0:22:26.716 --> 0:22:31.996 on is that we would build software to make their 0:22:32.076 --> 0:22:38.116 incredible equipment incredibly smart and provide the solutions that make 0:22:38.196 --> 0:22:43.756 them autonomous and give growers ultimately new technologies that can 0:22:43.956 --> 0:22:47.076 help them save money and get an incredible ROI. It's 0:22:47.116 --> 0:22:49.916 almost like building equipment that comes with a skilled operator 0:22:49.916 --> 0:22:51.596 built in that you can turn on and off any 0:22:51.596 --> 0:22:52.516 time you want. 0:22:53.356 --> 0:22:55.836 As a bonus, you don't have to have the crazy 0:22:55.876 --> 0:23:00.236 capital outlay of building a tractor factory, right like, I mean, 0:23:00.316 --> 0:23:02.356 that's business. It seems way better. 0:23:03.556 --> 0:23:08.396 It does, but there's one catch, and investors early on 0:23:08.436 --> 0:23:10.436 would say, wow, I don't think you can get an OEM. 0:23:11.596 --> 0:23:16.036 And we did an OEM, an original equipment manufacturer attractor. 0:23:16.156 --> 0:23:21.036 Attractor company, and we did an incredible company called Bobcat. 0:23:21.276 --> 0:23:21.636 Douce on. 0:23:21.676 --> 0:23:22.196 Bobcat. 0:23:22.756 --> 0:23:26.956 They make excavators large and small, They make skid steers, 0:23:26.996 --> 0:23:33.756 they make trackloaders, they make tractors like normal looking tractors, right, 0:23:34.396 --> 0:23:38.596