The ground · surface registry
Machines don't fail in demos. They fail on ground. Four working surfaces on one operation in the Sacramento Valley, an hour from San Francisco. Each is a real place with its own physics and its own clock.
Sheet 01 / 04
Live — harvest window
Survey plan of parallel orchard rows with tree tick marks, a head-of-row station line, and a canopy note. On hover, one tree tick turns magenta: your machine runs here. STA 0+00 · HEAD OF ROW CANOPY — GPS DENIED CANOPY — GPS DENIED CANOPY — GPS DENIED CANOPY — GPS DENIED ROW 03 ROW 03 ROW 03 ROW 03 YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE Orchard rows What breaks here: localization without GPS, optics in dust, grippers on fruit that bruises.
Outdoor Dust No GPS Uneven ground Living crop 1 answer / yr
01 Canopy blocks GPS — localization is on the machine. 02 Dust coats optics mid-shake. 03 No row is the same twice. 04 A living crop. Fruit that bruises. 05 The window does not move. Miss it, wait a year. Sacramento Valley — an hour from San Francisco
Sheet 02 / 04
Live — runs in shifts
Survey section of a conveyor line — belt, rollers, product, a diverter arm, and a dashed hand-sort zone. On hover, one product square turns magenta: your machine runs here. RUNS IN SHIFTS — READY OR NOT HAND-SORT LINE YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE
The plant floor What breaks here: throughput claims. Every shift is a graded attempt.
Indoor Controlled Counter-seasonal Hand-sort line 1 answer / shift
01 Indoor. The variables hold still. 02 A hand-sort line — machines work beside people. 03 The line runs whether the model is ready or not. 04 Live while the orchard is dormant. The orchard answers once a year. The plant answers every shift.
Survey plan of a pallet grid with one pallet set down off-square, fork tines entering from the dock. On hover, the off-square pallet turns magenta: your machine runs here. DOCK / TRUCKS DOCK / TRUCKS DOCK / TRUCKS DOCK / TRUCKS PLAN — FLOOR GRID AS-LEFT ≠ AS-PLANNED YOUR MACHINE RUNS HERE
Warehouse & yard What breaks here: tidy maps. Close to a warehouse demo, never identical to one.
Semi-structured Pallets Forklifts Loading
01 Pallets where the forklift left them, not where the map says. 02 Forklifts share the floor. 03 The handoff between building and truck. 04 Enough order to plan. Enough drift to break the plan. Sheet 04 / 04
[BREAKING GROUND — [——]]
Survey section of flagged stakes on a broken ground line below a dashed datum. On hover, one stake flag turns magenta: the next row is open. DATUM SECTION — THE NEXT SURFACE BREAKING GROUND THE NEXT ROW IS OPEN THE NEXT ROW IS OPEN THE NEXT ROW IS OPEN THE NEXT ROW IS OPEN Construction ground The next surface on the operation. Details stay bracketed until they are real.
Upcoming [BREAKING GROUND — [——]]
01 Scope: [——] 02 Opens: [——] 03 First problems: [——] What a machine learns here carries to the next site — construction, mining, ports. The next ground starts ahead.
Next — the exam
Agriculture is not a niche within physical AI. It is the qualifying exam.
These surfaces set the problems. The exam scores the run.
Next — the season
The calendar decides what's live.
The harvest window does not move. Plan the run around it.