SIU Takes Second Place in International Agricultural Robotics Competition

By Leah Lerner

Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Agricultural Robotics Club accomplished an impressive feat in its first international competition earlier this month with a second-place finish in the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ Robotics Student Design Competition.

Joy Howard, an undergraduate student in the microbiology program, and Nathan Wellendorf, an undergraduate in the crop, soils, and environment management program, designing, building, and perfecting the computer coding for their robot.

The duo received guidance from Billy Ram, an assistant professor in the School of Agricultural Sciences. The team designed a robot to detect simulated corn stalks that are planted too close to one another — which can be a real-life issue for farmers when plants compete for nutrients.

SIU competed against 14 teams, including from China and Canada in the event, July 12-15 in Indianapolis.

Howard and Wellendorf arrived to find a change in the event on the first day removed a task they were anticipating to earn high scores in.

“Our strategy going into the competition was to nail day one’s task, which originally was 60% of the score, so it was a blindside,” Wellendorf said. “The robot’s ability to perform day two’s task was not as consistent as the near perfection we were able to achieve for day one’s task.”