I spent this summer working as an intern at the Center for Precision and Automation Agricultural Systems at Washington State University, a renowned research facility dedicated to advancing the field of sustainable agriculture through innovative technologies and methodologies. I have been making significant developments toward a fully autonomous orchard robot by expanding on the same safety technology used in self-driving cars. For the agricultural robot to operate effectively in an orchard, it must be able to “see” its surroundings precisely.
My robot safety research focused on computer vision, sensing technology, and robot localization algorithms. That is, I worked on how different sensors can come together to give the robot an accurate map of its surroundings. This is an essential step in developing a fully autonomous orchard robot that can contribute to sustainable agriculture and farming.
