Future-proof agriculture
We are a diverse team of students from across different engineering disciplines. With a shared passion for innovation and technology, we hope to contribute to the future of agriculture, in transitioning from human labour to full automation.
As the world population grows, climate change continues and reliable human labour becomes increasingly expensive, we must find more efficient and sustainable ways to grow food and sustain ourselves. The UBC AgroBot team will be building a fully autonomous robot capable of analyzing its environment and performing targeted weeding, fertilizing and soil analysis though the use of advanced robotics, image recognition and machine learning.
This project will be competing in the agBot challenge at Purdue University, Indiana. This competition attracts many teams from companies and universities across North America. The objectives of the competition are to create an autonomous machine capable of navigating a corn field to identify weeds and analyze crop health. Upon identification of the corn plant, the machine should determine if the plant is healthy or in distress which requires fertilizer to be applied by the machine. Upon identification of a weed, the machine should eradicate the weed chemically and/or mechanically. The competition will be judged by reputable members of the agricultural technology industry, such as The Climate Corporation (Monsanto), and Blue River Technology.
You can find more information at: https://ag.purdue.edu/agBOT/
We are looking for highly self motivated individuals who are ready to take on this challenging yet rewarding project. This new team provides a start-up like environment. The multidisciplinary projects give you the hands-on experience to tackle any engineering problem. Members of the team will take part in highly collaborative projects in two major categories, robotics and automation. Members will get the opportunity to go through the engineering design process including studying and researching the problem, engaging stakeholders, developing potential solutions, prototyping, sourcing materials and constructing a working product.
This year we will attempt to complete a simple, functioning protype of the AgroBot. This will entail 10-15 hours of work every week. Most will be accomplished on the weekends.
Previous technical experience is not required but will be considered an asset.
