Student teams from California, across the U.S. and around the world took home honors in the fourth annual Farm Robotics Challenge, underscoring growing interest in automation tools for weeding, pest management, irrigation, scouting, harvesting and farm labor challenges.
University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ innovation arm and the AI Institute for Next Generation Food Systems at UC Davis hosted the competition. It drew 96 teams from 13 countries across three divisions: four-year universities, two-year colleges and a Farm Robotics Academy for students in grades 7 through 12.
Cornell University’s Rootline Robotics team won the $50,000 grand prize for an autonomous, perception-driven weeding robot designed for orchards and vineyards. The system uses computer vision, machine learning, depth sensing and a robotic arm to deliver pulsed high-voltage microshocks to weeds. The team partnered with Crist Bros Orchards, a 500-acre apple operation in New York, and is pursuing commercialization through Cornell’s technology licensing and startup programs.
It’s easy to be “in the know” about what’s happening in Washington, D.C. Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! Simply click here
California teams were well represented among the winners. Reedley College’s Tiger Ag-Botics won the Amiga Innovation Award for Division II with a solar-assisted nighttime sprayer equipped with cameras, variable-rate nozzles and a rooftop drone pad. UC Davis’ Aggie Aerial-Ground Robotics won the Division I specialty crops for Project BloomSense, which combines UAV mapping and in-canopy imagery from a ground robot to estimate orchard bloom density.
Hartnell College’s Red Scout team won the Division II specialty crops award for an AI-driven system tracking artichoke growth, soil conditions and plant counts. Fresno’s Career Technical Education Charter High School won the Academy specialty crops award and was elevated to win the Division II drone applications award for a pistachio orchard diagnostics system pairing a fixed-wing VTOL drone with a 4WD rover. Mission Oak High School in Tulare won the Academy drone applications award for a dairy herd health monitoring system.
Kelly Scott, director of the Farm Robotics Challenge, said judges described several projects as “investment-ready and commercially viable,” adding, “These students are not just solving problems; they are building the next generation of agricultural technology.”
