Field Robot Event
Field Robot Event (2003-) is the only open-air agricultural field robot contest in the world. The competition was first organized four times in Wageningen University in Netherlands. The Event has been organized three times in Germany (2006 Hohenheim, 2008 Osnabruck, 2010 Braunschweig). The contest allows unlimited creativity: no restrictions apply to the robot design and construction. The robots usually compete in a corn field where the robots have to navigate between corn rows, make turnings, do measurement and do actions in several tasks. Most of the robots are built by university students.
The first Finnish team was collected in autumn 2004 from students at TKK, Automation Technology and University of Helsinki, Agrotechnology. They worked for the whole semester and attended the competition in June 2005. With the similar concept, the Finnish team has now attended six times to the Field Robot Event. Year 2008 was the most successful, Mean Maize Maze Machine was a winning team in all tasks and in overall competition.
The Finnish field robots have been:
- SmartWheels (2005)
- Demeter (2006)
- Wheels of Corntune (2007)
- Mean Maize Maze Machine (2008)
- EasyWheels (2009)
- Turtle Beetle (2010)
- Cornivore (2011)
Field Robot Project 2012
Do you want to be in a winning robot team 2012?
The work will begin September 2011 within project courses AS-0.3200, Kon-41.4160 and AGTEK370. The project will again provide challenges in the areas of: signal processing, control engineering, electronics, software integration, machine vision, mechatronics and mechanics. For AS-course all you need to participate on this project is a basic programming knowledge with C and Java, Matlab and Simulink, the rest you can learn during the project.
If you are planning to participate on course AS-0.3200 during academic year 2011-2012 and are interested on learning to build a autonomous robot from scratch (which could win the next competition in the Netherlands!), feel free to contact and tell you're interested any time before the academic term starts in September.
"Within this project I learned more than in all my studies in two years" - a member of 2006 team
"I really should have done analog and digital control courses better, now I know that those theories are needed in real life" - a member of 2006 team
"A lot of work, but definitely this was the best course yet, and I've suggested to my friends." - a member of 2009 team
"This course was my recommendation for my next job" - a member of 2010 team
"Wanna be a professional in Matlab and Simulink? After this project you can say so!" - a member of 2010 team
"Have you ever wanted to conduct a real automation project?" - a member of 2010 team
"For once there was a chance to design and realize something from the very beginning in this university. You just cannot learn things by reading books or listening lectures!" - a member of 2010 team