Fengkou financial reporter Wang Hao
Relying on various remote sensing equipment and algorithms, robots replace manual labor, not only can complete the pesticide spraying of fruit trees, but also automatically identify the parts that need to be applied, and make orchard management more efficient and environmentally friendly through accurate targeted spraying. October 27, 2021 China International Agricultural Machinery Exhibition entered the second day. As the "highlight" of the day's activities, the "2021 China Agricultural Robot Competition" sponsored by the China Agricultural Machinery Circulation Association, the China Agricultural Machinery Industry Association, the China Agricultural Mechanization Association, the Chinese Agricultural Machinery Society and the Chinese Agricultural Engineering Society, and the China Agricultural University undertook the fierce competition at the Qingdao World Expo City International Exhibition Center. At the scene, the participating teams composed of "post-00s" students from many colleges and universities across the country took turns to appear on the stage, interpreting the new modern agricultural production through design innovation.
The theme of this year's competition focuses on precision agriculture, with the design proposition of "automatic target spraying robot", which aims to replace the traditional continuous coverage of plant protection methods and improve the utilization rate of pesticides. According to reports, since the launch of the competition, it has received widespread attention from the academic and research circles, attracting many domestic universities and scientific research institutions to sign up for the competition, and through layers of competition, more than 20 teams have finally entered the finals. At the same time, this competition is the first time that the competition has been held outdoors since its establishment in 2017, and the venue area has expanded by dozens of times compared with previous editions, which is closer to the real scene. However, because of this, these "post-00s" students who have not yet graduated and lack practical experience in farmland have brought great challenges.
The reporter saw at the scene that the automatic target spraying robot developed by the participating teams needs to independently plan the operation path according to the simulation environment set by the arena, automatically identify the different location markings on the simulated plants, spray accurately according to the requirements, and the number of manual interventions during the robot operation process shall not exceed three times, otherwise the competition will be terminated. During the period, the robot from the "Shannan Liangluo" representative team of Zhejiang University suddenly "jammed" in the process of mobile spraying, resulting in the sprinkler head being unable to move up and down to spray a specific area. Ye Zunzhong, the instructor who watched the game, quickly found the problem, "Due to repeated use of the traction belt, the load bearing is too large, resulting in slippage damage, the lifting rod cannot be lowered, and the next time you need to improve the use of a thicker belt." Ye Zunzhong told reporters that there are many variables in the field situation, but for these players who are still learning, failure is not a bad thing, but a very good practical opportunity, which can allow them to gain more experience accumulation and better understand the complexity of actual agricultural production.
It is understood that this competition is based on the urgent need for intelligent agricultural machinery and equipment in the development of modern agriculture in China, as well as the key tasks of agricultural mechanization in the "14th Five-Year Plan", which aims to provide a platform for cultivating innovative talents who know and love agriculture, encourage scientific researchers to innovate agricultural robot technology, develop mature commercial products, and serve rural revitalization. As the only corporate support unit of the competition, Guangzhou Jifei Technology provided 8 of the teams with the R150 Agricultural Unmanned Vehicle Expansion Version as a robot walking platform. Liu Qiao, head of Guangzhou Jifei Technology Co., Ltd. Gongjifei Academy, told reporters that as a robot and artificial intelligence technology company, Jifei has been committed to the cultivation of agricultural innovation talents for many years, and has successively carried out school-enterprise cooperation with colleges and universities across the country to assist in the construction of intelligent robot colleges, open unmanned agriculture-related majors and courses, and further promote the development of the combination of production, education and research. In the future, the demand for compound talents with interdisciplinary disciplines in China's agriculture will further increase, and Jifei will, as always, cooperate with industry associations, scientific research institutions, and colleges and universities to jointly improve the level of agricultural modernization and development, and hope to provide new ideas for the talent training mode of various universities through this competition.
In the view of Wang Tianchen, vice president and secretary general of the China Agricultural Mechanization Association, the current is accelerating into the era of intelligence, artificial intelligence, robots, unmanned driving and other technologies have profoundly changed human production and lifestyle, and have increasingly become a significant symbol of scientific and technological innovation of the times, and the agricultural science and technology industry with high and new technology as the driving force is injecting new momentum and stimulating new vitality into the high-quality development of the economy.
He said that the China Agricultural Robot Competition provides an ideological collision platform and practical exchange opportunities for the innovative development of agricultural science and technology, and in the future, the China Agricultural Robot Competition will always aim at the important demand areas of agricultural modernization, and continuously improve the original innovation ability on the basis of strengthening basic research and technical research, and expand the breadth, depth and precision of the final application of agricultural robots.
It is reported that after the final on-site competition, a total of 5 teams from China Agricultural University, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Zhejiang University and South China Agricultural University won the first prize.