A team of students from the University of California, Davis took top prize in the Farm Robotics Challenge 2023 for a robot designed to reduce farmworker injuries and streamline harvest.

Amiggie from UC Davis, a robot designed to assist human pickers, won the Grand Prize in the competition, whose virtual awards ceremony was held in early June. The robot monitors risky postures, carries harvested crops, and streamlines the unloading process for increased efficiency, according to the university.

The team advisers were Juan Fernando Villacres, Guilherme De Moura Araujo, and Lance Halsted. The students were:

Teams from UC Davis, the University of Nebraska and UC Santa Cruz were presented awards in a virtual ceremony June 3. Organized by the AI Institute for Next Gen Food Systems (AIFS), The VINE, Fresno-Merced Future of Food (F3) Innovation and farm-ng, the inaugural annual event celebrated student innovators' contributions to the advancement of agricultural technology.

The Farm Robotics Challenge, sponsored by Beck's Hybrids, provided a platform for students to demonstrate engineering, computer science, critical thinking and business skills. They engaged in real-world farming scenarios, creating and programming farm robots using the farm-ng platform. The contest demonstrated how students can apply technology and innovation against challenges in agriculture.

For a listing of all the award recipients, click here.

Source: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources