Once they met Mr. Gurdy just inside the field room, a long low cavern filled with rows of hydroponics units designed for small fruits and vegetables, she sat the box on the floor and carefully removed her pollinator.
Rather than looking like a mechanical bee, it looked more like a black metal spider. It was a small round box no bigger than the palm of Emma’s hand. Eight appendages draped from it, each nearly a half meter long with multiple joints. It stood on the jointed legs as Emma pulled a set of small data cards from her pocket.
“Each type of plant requires different instructions. The actions for a number of plants are very similar, but the pollinator has specific parameters to check regarding the blossom. This one is for strawberries. We also did instructions for peppers, tomatoes, squash and melons. Those are the crops you grow simultaneously here, right Mr. Gurdy?”
The hydroponicist looked skeptical, but interested. He took the other cards while Emma kept the card for strawberries. “That’s right, Emma. As you should know. I’ve seen you in here almost as often as your brother the last couple of months.”
Emma smiled at him and inserted the card. The pollinator had two arms that immediately began to move. Emma picked it up and gently placed it at the end of a row of plants. She watched carefully to make sure each leg found a purchase on the flat top of the plants’ container then moved her hand back. The two flexible arms performed a search pattern over the plant beneath them. There were three blossoms currently open. As each was spotted by an arm, the arm flexed close to the blossom and a brushed past the stamen with a little flick and onto the pistil. Once the three blossoms were pollinated the eight legs carefully moved one at a time until it was repositioned over the next plant.
Mr. Gurdy and John both moved to kneel on either side of the row, watching carefully as the four open blossoms on this plant were passed over. They could see tiny brushes on the ends of the arms.
Alan watched with fascination. The pollinator moved on to the next plant.
“How does it find the blossoms?” John asked his daughter as two blossoms were pollinated on that plant while three buds were not even giving a passing hesitation. The small device gently picked up its feet and moved on.
“There are fiber optic cameras at the end of each arm. It’s programmed to find the white of the blossom, compare the image to a strawberry blossom and brush past the blossom at a height calculated to catch the pollen and fertilize the blossom.” She looked at Mr. Gurdy. “Alex explained that its better to pollinate from one plant to the other, but pollen is sticky, after the first plant, there should always be pollen from two or more previous plant’s blossoms on the brushes.”
“How does it find the right height?” Alan asked. Like everyone else on Alpha, he had helped with pollination. It was something they had all done to make certain they had enough to eat.
“Each arm carries two of the cameras. The stereo vision allows a calculation to determine distance and the program indicates the optimum distance from the petals for the brushes depending on the species. That’s why the programming is specific to each kind of plant.”
Mr. Gurdy was shaking his head. “This is… this is…” he stammered. “For years we’ve been…” he couldn’t finish his sentences. He looked across the row at John. “Commander, with these we could vastly increase the amount we could plant.”
“Remember, you still have to harvest by hand.” John said with a smile, but he looked at his daughter with pride. “This is really something, sweetheart.” Emma stepped closer and he stood and put his arm around her.
“Can you make more? Is this the only one?” Mr. Gurdy was still crawling along the floor, eyes on the pollinator.
“I can give the plans to technical today,” Emma said. “They’re all ready to go.” She looked back at Alan. “I sent a copy to your slate a few minutes ago. You can look over them before we ask for more.”
Alan nodded. “I’ll do that this morning. Gurdy, how many do you need?”
“How many?” Gurdy finally stood, but his eyes remained on the little device stepping delicately from plant to plant. “How many? How many strawberries should we plant? And peppers, and melons? I’m … I’m amazed! We could use dozens! We could use them on Loki as well.”
“Power source?” Alan asked Emma.
“Rechargeables. They last about four hours before needing to recharge, using the same hook-up as the slates. The charge doesn’t last as long as with a slate because of all the mechanical movement it’s powering. I’d like them to last longer, but the bodies would have to be bigger, and therefore heavier, so the overall efficiency is not increased. We would be better off to have more, set them to work for their four hour shifts, then charge that group and bring in another group.” She watched the little device move forward again then looked back at Alan. “So, what do you think? Does it qualify?”
Alan nodded slowly and the pollinator made its way delicately through the foliage. “It does at that. I’ll want to see the plans, then you can take it to technical and get them to make a dozen to start with. “Gurdy? Will twelve do to start?”
“That would be marvelous! Will we be able to order more?”
Alan nodded. “Let’s see how well these do. If there are any changes you need to make, get with Emma.”
“Shall I pack this one up?” Emma asked.
“Oh, do you have to? Couldn’t you leave it?” Gurdy asked.
Emma looked to Alan for confirmation. “It’s our prototype, and we’ll need it when the techs start putting the new ones together. But it can stay for now. Emma will come back for it when we need it.”
Gurdy nodded, still pleased as a kid in a candy shop. Emma moved over beside him to show him how to change to the other plant programs and John came to stand beside Alan.
“Didn’t you tell me this project should last her a couple of years?”
“I thought so.”
“So now what?”
“I guess now I let her re-design the Eagle.”
September, 2006
ECL
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