The Bison Agbot robotics team in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems engineering was formed in the Spring of 2021 with the aim to participate in the annual ASABE robotics competition. Started by the graduate students of the department, the group encourages students from any agricultural discipline to learn and share idea about automation in their field. Students work with embedded computers like the Nvidia Jetson Nano, Raspberry pi and microcontrollers like Arduino. The departmental robotics group provide good opportunity for students to brainstorm and fabricate solutions for real world problems in agricultural automation. From using computer aided designs to 3D printing their prototypes, using complex electronics to power up the robot and using machine vision to autonomously navigate and detect. The robotics group is a great opportunity for anyone to learn and hone their skills in robotics for agriculture.
The group is preparing for the 2025 ASABE robotics competition which is going to be held in Toronto, Canada from July 13-16, 2025. The competition task is to design an autonomous robots that will race to collect and sort as many chicken eggs as possible within 5-minute trials. You too can travel to Canada with us and participate in an international robotic competition, join the team today!
- Bison AgBot won the second prize in 2022 ASABE Robotics Student Design competition
- Bison AgBot will be participating in the ASABE robotics competition in Toronto, Canada, 13-16 July 2025
- NDSU robotics team excels in competition
Advisors
Advisor: Dr. Xin (Rex) Sun, Assistant Professor
Co-advisor: Dr. Billy G. Ram, Postdoctoral Research Associate
Team members
President: Manuel Cuevas Perez
2021 Team: Anup K. Das, Arjun Upadhyay, Diego Gris, Kelvin Betitame, Nitin Rai, Jitin Matthew, Billy Graham Ram
2022 Team: Billy Graham Ram, Jithin Matthew, Arjun Upadhyay, Nusrat Jahan, Sunil GC, Nitin Rai
2025 Team: Ajay Singh, Evans Wiafe, Jino Joy, Manuel Cuevas Perez, Mohamed Salem, Samriddha Das
Graduate Club Members: Anup K. Das, Arjun Upadhyay, Jithin Matthew, Ajay Singh, Evans Wiafe, Jino Joy, Manuel Cuevas Perez, Mohamed Salem and Samriddha Das
Goals
- Designing and fabricating the first prize winning robot for ASABE robotics competition.
- Promoting and encouraging students for Robotics in Agriculture.
Membership Requirements
- Undergraduate or post graduate student from relevant discipline in North Dakota State University.
- Eligible to become members of American society of agriculture and biological engineers.
How to join: · Contact the club advisor, Rex Sun, ABEN 205, 231-5756, Club President, Billy Graham Ram, Ladd Hall 104E, or Julie Bietz, Student Services Coordinator, Ladd Hall 104B, 231-7273
Club Meeting Schdule: Club members meet every Thursday at 2:00 - 3:00 PM in Pilot Plant 202B
Competitions
2025
Objective: Student teams will build autonomous robots that will race to collect and sort as many chicken eggs as possible within 5-minute trials. Points will be earned for each egg correctly collected and sorted. There will be three different sizes of eggs (small, medium, and large). There will also be “bad” eggs. In addition to the physical competition, teams will also submit a written design report which will be scored. Robot performance and the quality of the written design report will be combined to determine the winners of each division. The competition consists of two divisions: Standard and Advanced.
2022
Objective: Autonomous robot(s) will harvest “cotton” on an 8’ x 8’ playing field. The robot(s) will harvest 3 rows with each row containing 11 plants. The cotton plants may vary in height from 7” to 10”.
2021
Objective: Design and implement a robot that can autonomously identify, count, and remove excessive and unhealthy leaves and flowers of simulated and real strawberry plants. We used Lego EV3 module for autonomous navigation and raspberry pi for strawberry plant detection.
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 Dr. Rex Sun |
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