Robot Harvester

The Robot Harvester is a Robot added by BuildCraft. It has the ability to harvest all types of plants (e.g., grass, flowers, and wheat; see Usage), which can be used in combination with the Robot Planter and Robot Picker for automated farming.

Usage


The robot automatically harvests all types of plants.

The setup to start this work is described below, using the example location shown in Fig. 1.

The following items are needed for the setup:
 * 3-4 s
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1 (or a other type of Emerald Gate if special functions needed)
 * 1
 * 1
 * 1
 * some and s (amount dependent on the height of the working area)

Step 1: Define Work Zone
The player must demarcate the area in which the robot should harvest the wheat. This is achieved with Land Marks. If the player does not define a working area and configure it in Step 3, the robot will fly to every active chunk around the player and harvest every grass and flower.

The player must place three Land Marks in a 90° angle which defines the base of the farm. The player can then right-click on one of the marks to active the red borders (shown in Fig. 2) which displays the ground area of the work zone. Like shown in the figure, the Land Marks must be one block lower, and not on top of the surface, to include the surface blocks.

The two marks on the left and top in the figure may not be more than 64 blocks away from the center mark in the right corner.

If the field includes height then the player must build a dirt tower, over the mark in the center up to the maximum height to be worked. place the fourth Land Mark on the top of the dirt tower. Right-clicking on any Land Mark now will display a red border framing a 3-dimensional work zone. If no red border appears, then the Land Marks are not in a 90° angle to each other.

To harvest on all height levels in the respective area, the "Harvester" Robot needs a 3-dimensional zone which includes all growing wheat. If the player uses the 2-dimensional zone, which was defined with the three ground marks, the robot only harvests on the ground level. All wheat, grass and flowers outside the working area is not touched.

Step 2: Control Station
In the second step, the player must build the control station for the robot. It can be placed anywhere but it is recommended to be constructed nearby for easier access. The following example control station is the simplest and can be extended.

The station includes a Chest with a connected Stone Transport Pipe, as well as a Docking Station, and an Emerald AND Gate which can be placed anywhere on the Pipe. The Chest isn't required for usage and only for a better view of the Transport Pipe.

Place the Lever in front of the Emerald Gate. Now the station should look like the example in Fig. 3.

Step 3: Configuration
The third step is the configuration of the Emerald Gate to control the robot. The example here is one of many ways to do so.

Right-click on the Emerald Gate to open its GUI, which shows two 4x4 slotted fields (one left, one right).

Select all the options as shown in Fig. 4. In both rows on the right side there will be question marks, indicating that an item must be placed there.

The important configurations to control the robot, which are shown in Fig. 4, are explained here:

A full explanation of all possible functions can be found in the article for Emerald Gate.

The sequence of rows does not matter

The option requiring coordinates can be added by using the Map Location.
 * 1) Take the Map Location and right click on one of the Land Marks to receive the coordinates of the working zone (shown in Fig. 5). The Map Location should now have a rectangle on it. Place the Map Location in the Emerald Gate's GUI in the "question slot" in the first row ("Working area" option). The coordinates will be stored and the Map Location can be reused for the second coordinates.
 * 2) Hold the Map Location and right-click on the Docking Station to receive its coordinates. Note: It is important that which side is indicated at the coordinates for the docking station. This is displayed in the player inventory if the cursor is hovered over the Map Location. Check  if the specified side is the same where the docking station is, for example UP if the docking station is on the upside of the pipe. Place the Map Location in the Emerald Gate's GUI in the question slot in the third row ("Go to station" option).

Now the configuration should appear like in Fig. 4 and the control station is configured. The Land Marks and the respective frame are now not longer needed for this example and can be removed. If the player wishes to use the frame for other robots (for example for the Robot Picker, make sure to have the coordinates stored in a Map Location.

Step 4: Start and Stop
In the fourth and last step, place the "Harvester" Robot on top of the Docking Station (shown in Fig. 6). The Robot will do nothing because the logic statement in the first row commands the robot to stay on the Station when no redstone signal is provided to the gate.

If the Lever in front of the gate is switched and a gate is provided with a redstone signal, the second row activates.

After a short time (the update time of the robot), the robot will start working in the defined zone (second row in the Emerald Gate) (shown in Fig. 7) until there are no plants in the zone which can be harvested. The items, for example Wheat and Seeds are dropped on the ground and can be collected by the player or the Robot Picker.

When all plants are harvested in the defined working area, the robot will automatically return to the Docking Station, though it will remain active. It will resume new work when new plants become harvestable. The robot can be stopped anytime by switching the lever (in front of the gate) off, which will automatically return it to the Station.

Recharging
If the robot is low on energy, it will begin to seek out a kinesis pipe with a Docking Station to charge itself. If none are available, it will continue doing its job until its battery dies. The player can also stop the robot with attacks to prematurely drain its battery, causing the robot to drop as an item on the ground. Stronger attacks will drain its battery faster. The player can pick up the robot and place it in the Charging Table to recharge it. After that, the robot can be placed again on the Docking Station to resume work.