In LCCMR debate, part 1: Flanagan says wild rice unites MN; Heintzeman says no changing my bill!, we looked at a relatively straight-forward amendment to the LCCMR in the Minnesota House on Thursday.
In our second post about the debate, we draw on a particularly bizarre moment in which Pat Garofalo, R-Lakeville, the chair of the lower chamber's Jobs and Energy committee mocks the notion of a solar-powered weeding machine, going so far as to reference the HBO sci-fi show, "West World." While he speaks, his fellow Republicans can be seen smirking at the supposed absurdity of solar-powered robotic weeders, a project that would have been restored to the budget bill had an amendment offered by Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, been adopted.
Oh, those scary, scary robots. It's not as if robots are already mowing lawns.
We're left scratching our head as well, but not at the thought of robotic farm equipment. We know a number of dairy farmers who use robotic milking machines--a welcome innovation for a labor intensive industry in arts of the state where labor is scarce. (In the Australian bush, the Guardian reports in Transforming the bush: robots, drones and cows that milk themselves, robotics are much more advanced, given acute labor shortages).
In the field? NASA reports GPS Correction Technology Lets Tractors Drive Themselves.
We've heard farmers mention the fact that the crops they grow are the original solar energy sources. There's something elegant in the notion of harvesting the sun to run a weeding machine to help those crops out, while giving farmers more options for weed control.
Nor is the notion of a solar weeder isn't something futuristic. Ag News reported seven years ago about an Automated weeding machine developed by an Iowa State University engineer. It was "a hybrid machine, able to run off batteries, solar power and petroleum." (Having spent much of yesterday weeding thistles, we wouldn't have minded having a well-built, Minnesota-designed robot rolling through the large vegetable garden we keep with three other households at a nearby farmstead).
Moreover, in 2010, Minnesota Business reported in The Rise of Robotics that Minnesota companies like PaR Systems and Toro (a sponsor of the solar robotic weeder project) were leaders in the development of robotic systems. The article also discussed the then-young movement in Minnesota STEM education to create school robotic teams to get kids excited about technical and engineering careers, while acquiring the "soft" teamwork skills those professions demand.
The growth of robotic teams (the Minnesota State High School League tournament is tomorrow) was brought up as a counter to Garofalo's foolishness about a HBO fantasy show. While the League's 2016 annual report (page 18-19) doesn't show robotics as the biggest team sport (not trap shooting, either, as Garofalo claimed), thousands of kids from schools across the state enjoy the competition. By 2013, robotic teams and their members exceeded the number of boys' hockey teams and players, the Star Tribune reported in Robotics on a roll in Minnesota schools.
Perhaps Garofalo Republican colleagues can apologize to those kids and Toro--or explain why they're ridiculing engineering.
Whatever the motivation for this stupidity on Garofalo's part, it underscores something another Dakota County legislator said earlier in the floor discussion. Session Daily reported a point made by Rep. Rick Hansen:
Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) said appropriations from the environment trust fund “always seem to get tinkered with” and that projects involving solar power, climate change or prohibitions on lead, “always come out of the package” when Republicans have the majority. He asked fellow lawmakers to vote against the bill so sponsors could “start over.”
Here's the Garofalo statement and the response:
Robotics aren't scary. Scary is watching Garofalo troll about the field.
Screengrab: Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, and Dan Fabian, R-Roseau, smirk as Garofalo trash the notion of robotic weeding. One of our young friends, now an engineering student at the U's main campus, was the captain of Willmar Public School's robotics team. His advocacy made us a fan of these competitive STEM teams.
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