FarmBot is 100% open-source, meaning that anyone with an internet connection can look at and download all of oursoftware, hardware plans, and documentation so that they can build and operate their own farming machine. But in reality, will people actually do this? Are the open resources we’ve created good enough for someone to build their own device? Is FarmBot worth replicating? Is being open-source a worthwhile cause? Up until just recently, we had a hunch that the answer to all these questions was a resounding yes, but we had no concrete evidence in the case of FarmBot. What we did have going for us was the fact that replication already happens with other open-source hardware and software projects. But still, it had yet to be proven with FarmBot.

Today we can definitively say that the answer to all of those questions is indeed yes: people will replicate FarmBot, the open resources we’re developing are good enough, and being open-source is without a doubt a worthwhile cause. That’s because over the last few months we’ve been very excited to see and hear of four more FarmBots being built by people and teams outside of our core development group. These people independently came across our idea, our documentation, and our software; and then decided it was a great idea to build a FarmBot on their own, and went for it. Two of these other FarmBots are in the United States, and the other two are in Japan. Two are being built by individuals, while two are being built by companies small and large. Check it out here: https://farmbot.io/2016/04/30/is-farmbot-worth-replicating/

This is a huge milestone for our team and The FarmBot Project at large, and we can’t wait to see the FarmBot community continue to grow. Want to build a FarmBot? Get started on our documentation hub. Want to buy a FarmBot? We’ll be accepting pre-orders in July. Sign up for email newsletter and you’ll be the first to know when they’re available!