St Paul's College agriculture students learn about digital farmhand robot

Students who are part of the Ag Robotics STEM program will develop skills over one term to operate the robot on a farm.

The program has been funded by the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer.

Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at Sydney University and CSRIO Eureka prize winner, oversaw the development of digital farmhand and its larger counterpart.

Sukkarieh is also the CEO of agtech startup, Agerris, which recently received $6.5 million dollars in funding to continue to develop the two systems for markets, both in Australia and internationally.

Digital farmhand has a battery life of 10-12 hours, multiple camera systems a 4G connection. It's designed to perform a range of tasks on farm.

A spokesperson from the school said students will get their hands on the controller and learn about the robot's machine learning capabilities, essential to its smart weed detection and spraying system.

Agriculture students will develop their coding knowledge and skills, essential for operating the robot at the college's St Francis Farm.

Developing coding skills may set St. Paul's agriculture students apart, when it comes time to obtain future roles in the agricultural sector.

"I'm excited that our students here in Kempsey, have the chance to build their skill set and experiment with cutting edge technology," said Agriculture teacher and VET Coordinator Graham Bramley.

"They might be inspired to think laterally about what farming is and who knows, they might go down that path."

Lee Hancock, Leader of Innovation and Digital Learning at the college said feeding 10 billion people by 2050 is one of the planet's biggest challenges.

"Technological innovations such as digital farmhand and skilled people who can operate autonomous machines like it, will be vital if we are to meet this pressing problem," he said.

"We want to ensure that our students are equipped with the skills to help solve that problem."

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