Engineering students win $50,000 challenge

News Release Release Date: May 9, 2016 11:55 a.m.

Students from the University of Regina have won an international competition of robotic agricultural equipment.

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science team won the 2016 agBOT Challenge, held in Rockville, Indiana on May 7.

The agBOT Challenge featured competing universities that included teams from Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan State and Virginia Tech University. The University of Regina was the only Canadian university represented.

Technologies resulting from the challenge bring together the latest in both agriculture and robotics. The agBOT Challenge is a competition of teams who develop the most efficient unmanned crop seeder capable of planting two varieties of seeds in nearly one-kilometre rows, while providing real-time data using a mobile tracking antenna.

The University of Regina team comprised of Sam Dietrich, Joshua Friedrick and Caleb Friedrick.   

“It was very rewarding to win. We put in a lot of work,” said Friedrick. “It was an amazingly well organized competition.”

“This is valuable recognition for the University as it shows the strengths of our Industrial System Engineering program, which incorporates elements of traditional engineering disciplines such as mechanical and electrical, but also takes a systems approach to design,” added Dietrich.

The students worked under the supervision of Dr. Mehran Mehrandezh, associate professor of Industrial Systems Engineering, in the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science.