No FAA to worry about on this one, I would like to think DIYD members could or even should win this....
Mission Statement
Identify and commercialize innovative agriculture husbandry technologies that improve work processes, as well as modernize observation technologies and intervention methods.
The Race is on . . .
The 2016 agBOT Challenge is a competition of teams to develop the most efficient unmanned crop seeder capable of planting two varieties of seed over half-mile-long rows, while providing real-time data utilizing a mobile tracking antenna. Participating teams, representing advanced robotics and agricultural research and development organizations, will develop the hardware, software, sensors, and human-machine control interfaces that enable their robots. Technologies resulting from the 2016 agBOT Challenge will propel both agriculture and the field of robotics.
The 2017 agBOT Challenge will be a competition for pest and weed identification and eradication.
The 2018 agBOT Challenge will be a competition for harvest method robotics.
Enabling and Engaging today’s Farmer
The need to produce food faster and easier in imperative; reliable labor is harder to find and wages are rising. While the agricultural field has gradually migrated toward farming supervision based on site specific crop management, the transition toward advanced robotics technology has been sluggish.
The 2016 agBOT Challenge will deliver a combination of progressive machinery with the software required to process data needed to virtually and economically manage crops. Unmanned seeding equipment through the usage of advanced communications systems will support all farmers!
The outcomes of the 2016 agBOT Challenge will be:
- Equipment capable of providing real time data and analysis to farmers
- Lowered cost of capital equipment
- Innovation of new labor supply to the farm
- Solutions to the availability of Precision Ag Software
- Increased efficiency with rural high-speed internet access
Environmental benefits include:
- Reduced carbon footprint
- Less soil compaction
- Decrease in erosion
- Reduction in use of harmful chemicals
- Diminished dependency on fossil fuels
Agricultural Robotics will decrease the volume of labor, and make farming faster and more accurate.
Agricultural Trailblazing through Technological Innovations
With a nine billion global population by the year 2050, the time has arrived to support our farmers with an infusion of today’s best resources. While there have been enormous advances in agriculture in recent times, we now need to progress our production and better safeguard our environment. Although agricultural machinery has witnessed a radical makeover from the days of a crude plow pulled by an animal, developing the means to more efficiently plant seed and provide husbandry to the crop is imperative. Evolution of agricultural practices allows for greater sustainability in a depleting world of farming circles.
airBridge is leading the charge in a Renaissance of farming, tapping into tomorrow’s greatest minds to solve today’s greatest agricultural challenges.
The 2016 agBOT Challenge will set the tone in the development of autonomous crop seeding which provides our future stewards the tools and technology that enables farms of any size to be successful.
There are many ways for you and your organization to become involved . . .
- Register a Competitive robotics building team
- Sponsor the 2016 agBOT Challenge
- Exhibit at the 2016 agBOT Challenge
- Partner or Volunteer with the 2016 agBOT Challenge
- Attend the 2016 agBOT Challenge on May 7, 2016
- Subscribe to our Social Media outlets to stay informed
Comments
@Colin Hurd, do you have funding to back up this project? I have GPS experience in test systems and software for both GPS and GLONASS I work for a wireless company that makes GPS simulation equipment and test chambers for testing cell phones GPS and A-GPS performance. I could consult on your project.
I just founded a business to build an autonomous planter and we are working to put together a team for this challenge. Please let me know if you have any interest in competing. I have quite a bit of experience in developing farm equipment www.tracktill.com so I can figure out all of the maniacal stuff but really need to find people who are good on the programming and navigation side of things.
Interesting summary on AG GPS here: https://extension.usu.edu/nasa/files/uploads/GTK-tuts/RTK_DGPS.pdf
Has anybody done any work to get a simple D-GPS setup working with the drone firmware? The concept is really pretty simple - from a ground station that has a 'known' GPS location (your laptop with a GPS module), compute the difference between the GCS and the GPS reading and send the 'error' to the remote, where the remote can use the offsets to compensate for it's own position.
Comments? I have seen some potential RTK stuff out there but is there an affordable RTK solution yet?
@JB Good question
@Randy Is it via Companion Computer?
I think, but this is my personal point of view, that RTK shouldn't run via Companion, as it's let's say a "basic" feature. However in the case we're here http://diydrones.com/group/volta/forum/topics/companion-computers
Hey Randy
When you saying RTK going into master does this mean that the PIxhawk will natively support RTK even without a companion computer on-board? Roughly what is the hardware requirement?
That's greats!!!! I have in my wishlist something like this. :D , please share here if someone do it,
Just need someone to take on the challenge and then I imagine some on the dev team would help them build or modify the features required. There's support for some RTK GPSs going into master at the moment so I think most of what would be required is there.
Not replace but make the job more friendly and, perhaps more actractive to young people to work at the farm....
and women ;)
Replacing humans is not possible....every machine ever conceived was for man. Without man machines would not have a reason to exist, nor would they exist. They are an idea that extends our hand towards the unnatural.
The question is where do we wish to place the fulcrum for our technological lever...in our own elbows by digging the dirt with our bare hands, or with tools that are "smart" enough to operate at the push of a button? Humans doing "work" is only required to keep our idle hands busy and our ideas out of trouble! ;-)
It's a bit of a tight time frame to enter, especially with the OBC on the table already. I'd be willing to throw some ideas in the hat though.
Regards JB
Coolll!!!, It's going to be the solution for farmers, It's hard to find young people that want to work in a farm far from big cities in our country.
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