Innovators Accept the agBOT Challenge

Ten teams of agricultural innovators representing universities, the private industry and the technology industry throughout the United States have been selected to participate in a new three-year competition called the agBOT Challenge. The goal of the program is to develop revolutionary agricultural technology that helps improve the observation, intervention, analysis and data storage of agriculture work methods.
 
During the first year of this three-year competition, teams are working 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 using a mobile tracking antenna. Teams will demonstrate their entries during an in-field event May 7, 2016, at Gerrish Centennial Farms near Rockville, Indiana. Contest organizers anticipate that technologies resulting from the 2016 agBOT Challenge will further both agriculture and the field of robotics.
 
Just as the R7^® Tool pushes yield potential by helping farmers plant seed at the right population throughout each field, these newly developed technologies could help farmers increase planting accuracy with greater efficiency for a better return on their input and time investments. In the end, farmers will benefit from the tools and technology needed to help operations of any size be more successful.
While the 2016 agBOT Challenge focuses on planting, the 2017 competition will spotlight pest and weed identification and eradication. In 2018, the contest will highlight harvest method robotics. For more information on the agBOT Challenge program, visit agBot.ag.