With more robots on farms, new contest to harvest ideas from Ontario high school students | CBC News

"As technology continues to shape every aspect of agriculture, a new contest is looking to get high school students thinking about new ways to put robots to work on the farm. Launched this month, the AgRobotics Ontario Challenge will focus on using robotics to make farm workers safer, faster, and more competitive. To help bring their ideas to life, groups from submitting schools will get a robotics kit supplied by the tech company Studica."

"Chuck Baresich is the president of Haggerty Robotics, a company that currently develops robotics for farm applications. Among their products is a solar-powered vehicle that can seed and weed a field unguided by human hands. Haggerty is also one of the partners in the contest, along with Innovation Farms Ontario, a network of farms that research and test new agricultural technologies."

""A lot of students are interested in technology, and we're also interested in putting food on the table, so why not put those two together?" said Baresich. "This is an up-and-coming industry; there are literally billions of dollars being invested around the world in trying to improve agricultural production." Baresich said the need for tech solutions on farms is particularly pressing when it comes to harvesting crops and managing pests and weeds."

An AgRobotics Ontario Challenge invites high school teams to create robotics solutions that make farm work safer, faster, and more competitive. Participating schools receive a robotics kit from Studica, with six selected teams developing prototypes to exhibit at the Western Fair Association's London Farm Show in March 20226 and receiving $500 toward design development. Haggerty Robotics and Innovation Farms Ontario partner in the contest. Haggerty develops farm robots, including a solar-powered vehicle capable of seeding and weeding autonomously. Robotics can operate day and night, reduce manual monitoring, and allow farm workers to be reassigned to other tasks while addressing harvesting, pest, and weed management.

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