Great success at the World Student Robot Olympiad with agricultural application

Hannes Polonji (Bad Segeberg, Year 12), Ao Sheng (Norderstedt, Year 10),  Niki Maximilian Biering (Halstenbeck, Year 10) and Jason Tyler Herbst (Coach) presented a fully automated system for carrying out soil analyses during tillage in the field. The machine attached to the implement takes soil samples while driving, fills them into the analyser, determines several soil parameters with measuring electrodes and drops them again.

The soil is analysed for its physical composition using an AI-based camera system in order to provide corrections to the measured values. The results are then geocoded and entered into a map, which is used in the next step to control the amount of fertiliser.

A total of three juries interviewed and assessed the ‘Ernteelite’ team. The focus was not only on technical aspects, but also on physiological, ecological and economic aspects. The tension was relieved when the team was called to the stage and given their tickets to Singapore. The best ideas from around the world will come together at the end of November.

Thilo Steckel (CLAAS - SF Technology Management and member of the Project Committee of the CLAAS Foundation) supported the team during the preparations and the national competition. "The national competition in the Westfalenhallen Dortmund was a real goosebump moment. This applies to the performance of the ‘Ernteelite’ team, but also to the performance of the many hundreds of students who competed in numerous categories. This puts into perspective the concern about future shortages of motivated and qualified people," he said.