This is gonna sound kinda dumb but do we have the ability to make a smaller version of this that's basically propelled with pedals (like a bike with more wheels or one of those tourist bike and drink contraptions)?

No real reason I just think it would be cool even if it took longer to do. Just chilling with your friends having a drink and harvesting.

[–] thinkercharmercoderfarmer@slrpnk.net 7 points 18 hours ago

Being kinda dumb never stopped any idea from being good. I don't know about this one though.

Combines are called that cause they combine a lot of the steps of harvesting into one machine. They cut the stalk and remove the grain from all the non-grain parts of the plant. That's a lot of moving parts that all require a decent amount of force, that would all have to be driven by the pedals. I don't know a ton about combines having never used one myself, but I think a lot of those processes benefit from being scaled up, that is, it's more energy efficient per plant to build a machine that can process 50 plants at a time than one that can only handle 5, so you wouldn't gain as much scaling down as you might expect. You could maybe build something that works, technically, but I imagine it would be less of a casual hang and more of a continuous, difficult workout for a team of professional cyclists.

If you wanted to chill and have a drink with friends, you could winnow your grain the old-fashioned(ish) way: you just need to dump your grain out in a stiff breeze. If you have a fan and a hopper, you could just sit around and chat while the hopper empties, and add another bin of grain every few minutes.

[–] Chakravanti@multiverse.soulism.net 1 points 23 hours ago

Turns out the wheat was just show play. It's actually harvesting souls. I know, most you don't think you have one. You're probably right.