2022 Winners
Beginner Division
1st place: Clemson University
2nd place: Cornell University
Advanced Division
1st place: University of Nebraska – Lincoln
2nd place: North Dakota State University
3rd place: University of Florida
Best Poster
1st place: Cornell University
2nd place: University of Nebraska – Lincoln
3rd place: Clemson University
Best Distance-based Entry
Best Overall: Zhejiang University, Team Vector
Best Video: Zhejiang University, Team Spark
Best Written Report: Zhejiang University, Team Tensor
The ASABE Robotics Student Design Competition is a student design event that allows undergraduate and graduate students to develop skills in robotic systems, electronics, and sensing technologies by simulating a fully autonomous robotics solution to a common agricultural process.
The competition requires teams to build a robot, or group of cooperative robots, which accomplish a simulated pre-, peri-, or post-harvest agricultural operation. The robots must be fully autonomous and able to complete the task without human intervention. The robots are small, less than 12”x12”x12”, and the challenge is typically executed on a custom-fabricated table. In past years, robots have been required to simulate counting and sorting, pick-up, pruning, transport, and precision-maneuvering operations.
The robotics competition is, by its nature, a very technical and precise competition. As such, the scoring for the competition is completely objective, and focuses on speed and precision with which the challenge is completed. Robots are not judged on esthetics, craftsmanship, or elegance, which allows for teams to create the most effective solution to the given challenge.
In addition to the challenge itself, each team must submit a poster and a written report that describes the development and function of their robot(s). The students will display their posters at the ASABE annual meeting, prior to the competition, to show off their work to industry and academic professionals attending the conference.
Because the competition is held during the ASABE Annual International Meeting, the competition changes each year to represent an agricultural product of the region where the meeting is being held. This results in vastly different challenges from year to year.
Participation
The competition is open to all current student members of ASABE, both undergraduate and graduate. There is no maximum number of team members per team and each university may field multiple teams so long as their robots do not share components. Every team must have a faculty or staff advisor who will be their primary contact with ASABE and all competing students must be registered for the annual international meeting and have a meeting badge. Teams are encouraged to obtain funding for the construction of their robots and registration and travel to the competition through their college, student organizations, and sponsor companies.
The 2023 Competition
Autonomous robots will harvest simulated cotton on an 8’ x 8’ playing field. The robots will harvest six rows with each row containing nine plants that vary in height from 7” to 10”.
Beginner and Advanced divisions are proposed in the 2023 competition. Both divisions have detection and actuation tasks, and division differences will be presented in task quantity and difficulty. The details of the tasks required from each division can be found in the linked documents below.
Robotics Competition Registration Deadline: June 1, 2023. Registration for the ASABE Annual International Meeting at https://asabemeetings.org is also required. (Reduced "Early Bird" rate is available until May 1, 2023.
2023 Competition Rules
This is a "living" document. To ask questions, simply post a comment in the attached document. Feel free to make suggestions to clarify phrasing and correct mistakes. You can save a copy of the accepted version of the document by choosing File - Download - PDF Document.
2023 Registration Form
Additional Information
Are you interested in helping organize, judge, or sponsor the ASABE Robotics Student Design Competition? Please contact the competition committee.