Agricultural Automation Engineering

Who are you going to call? Rotbusters!

August 29, 2019  |  Capital Press If potato farmers worry about storage losses, they might want to call “Rotbusters.”That’s the name Sindhuja Sankaran uses to explain her work using sensors to detect storage diseases like pythium and soft rot at early stages, even before their symptoms become visible. Sankaran is an associate professor in the WSU Department […]

New global fellowship program grows discoveries, partnerships in ag research

September 3, 2019  |  CAHNRS News Now being piloted at WSU, a 12-week fellowship program is the first of its kind to be offered through CGIAR, formerly known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Sponsored by the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service and modeled on the USDA’s well-established Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship […]

WSU’s Ag Tech Day – 1:30-6:00 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 22, in Prosser, Washington.

August 13, 2019  |  WSU Insider Experts from WSU, the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, Microsoft FarmBeats and ASI Robots will share updates on cutting-edge agricultural advances with growers, agricultural industry professionals, and crop consultants. This year’s event explores the theme of automation in specialty crop production, and includes field demonstrations and discussions […]

Precision pruning can help machines safely, efficiently harvest apples

July 9, 2019  |  WSU Insider With more apples to pick than any other state—more than 2.5 million tons every year—Washington apple producers have a growing desire to put labor-saving machines to work at harvest. Sharing new discoveries on how precise pruning could support a labor-saving mechanical harvesting technique, scientists at Washington State University have […]

Satellites and Drones Search for Better Wheat Varieties to Feed the World

May 29, 2019  |   WSU Insider WSU researchers are using satellites and drones to search for better wheat varieties to feed a growing world. The team launched a new project this spring, developing techniques that allow satellites and drones to identify and study wheat varieties from overhead. This research is funded by a USDA-NIFA grant. […]

Artificial intelligence and precision farming: does efficiency mean sustainability?

May 28, 2019  |   filling-space.com How does artificial intelligence-powered precision farming affect food sustainability? This is a question that Filling Space.com asked their panel of experts, including Sindhuja Sankaran, an Agricultural Automation Engineering specialist from Washington State University’s Biological Systems Engineering Department. Sankaran says, “For us, artificial intelligence serves as a key tool that assists […]

2019 ASABE Superior Paper Award – Congratulations!

May 9, 2019  |  Pullman, WA The team of Qin Zhang, Xin Zhang, Long He, Yaqoob Majeed, Matthew D. Whiting and Manoj Karkee have been selected to receive a 2019 ASABE Superior Paper Award. This group will be honored at the General Session Recognition Program during the ASABE Annual International Meeting on July 8th, 2019 […]

Spray Researchers Aim to Catch Their Drift

February 15, 2019  |  Good Fruit Grower Against the gray, late-autumn sky, it’s hard to miss the green plume spraying into the dormant orchard. It’s a very colorful solution to a nearly invisible problem. Underlying every pesticide label regulation lie complex calculations of risk to protect workers, bystanders and the environment from drift. But the […]