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Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
The Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Machinery has completed its first field tests for a fully electric, fully automated vegetable‑growing cycle.
As predicted by science fiction!
— Bill Christensen (@Technovelgy) June 16, 2026
The automatic field cultivators from "Piracy Preferred" (1930) by John Campbell:
"The workers on the machines below glanced up for a moment — four twenty-one it must be — then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic… https://t.co/sAIKY7MlVh
The automatic field cultivators from "Piracy Preferred" (1930) by John Campbell:
"The workers on the machines below glanced up for a moment — four twenty-one it must be — then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators. Even this little break in the afternoon program was of interest in this dull monopoly of green. But they would soon be starting back to the plantation city. These endless fields of castor bean plants had to be cultivated, but with the great machines that did the work it required but a few dozen men to cultivate an entire county."
Compare these automatic farm machines from the Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Machinery to the conscious farm machines from The Hidden Colony (1935) by Otfrid von Hanstein, the robot farmer from The Turning Wheel (1954) by Philip K. Dick, the field minder from Who Can Replace A Man (1963) by Brian Aldiss, the Robomule from Bill the Galactic Hero (1965) by Harry Harrison, the self-guided tractor from At the Bottom of a Hole (1966) by Larry Niven, the robot crab from Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson and the agricultural robot pest controller from Runaway (1985) by Michael Crichton.
See also the robot lawn mower from City (1944) by Clifford Simak.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 5/23/2026)
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Related News Stories - (" Agriculture ")
Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.' - John Campbell, 1931.
MK-V Smart Tractor - Fully Electric, Farmer Optional
'A small electric tractor was working at the far side, and a slight hum could be heard from where he sat.' - Warner Van Lorne, 1936
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'A towering eighty-story structure like the office "In-and-Out" baskets stacked up to the sky.' - Pohl and Kornbluth, 1952.
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