- Professor, Biological Systems Engineering
- Director, Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems
Education
- Ph.D., Agricultural Engineering and Human Computer Interaction, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
- M.Sc., Remote Sensing and GIS, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
- B.Sc., Computer Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Biography
Dr. Karkee joined the Biological Systems Engineering Department at Washington State University (WSU) in 2010 and has been affiliated with the Center for Precision & Automated Agricultural Systems (CPAAS) since the beginning of his tenure at WSU. Dr. Karkee was born and raised in the mid hills of the Himalayan country of Nepal, some 400 km east of Kathmandu. After completing high school in his village, he moved to Kathmandu for his Associate and Undergraduate degrees. He received his bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering in 2002 from Tribhuvan University, and then moved to Bangkok, Thailand to attend Asian Institute of Technology where he earned his Master’s Degree in Remote Sensing and GIS. Dr. Karkee then spent the next five years in Ames, Iowa working on his doctoral research and education, earning his PhD in Agricultural Engineering and Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University in 2005.
Dr. Karkee leads a strong research program in the area of agricultural automation and mechanization at WSU CPAAS, with particular emphasis on machine vision, sensing and control technologies for agricultural automation. He has been working on numerous sponsored projects in this area, including apple crop load estimation, apple and cherry harvesting, fruit tree and berry bush pruning, solid set canopy delivery, water and nutrient stress monitoring, and tropical biomass harvesting. Dr. Karkee has been actively publishing in such journals as ‘Computers and Electronics in Agriculture’, ‘Biosystems Engineering’ and ‘The Transactions of ASABE’ and has frequently presented in national and international conferences.
Research Interests
Dr. Karkee’s work is in the BSysE Agricultural Automation Engineering research emphasis area. He is primarily interested in Automated and autonomous agricultural machinery systems, field robotics, and machine intelligence for production agriculture; and in Agricultural systems modeling, simulation, and control.
See more at my Research Site.
My Research In the News
- Robotic gripper for automated apple picking developed
- Chancellor’s Awards for Leadership Awardees
- Commercialization Gap Funding Award recipients announced
- WSU’s Biological Systems Engineers celebrate a century of impact
- From the Dean’s Desk – Dr. Powers Attends BSE Faculty History Celebration
- Celebrating a century of impact by WSU’s Biological Systems Engineers
- From the Dean’s Desk – Dr. Powers looking forward to BSE Faculty History Celebration
- Three Minute Thesis – Ranjan Sapkota (PhD) and Hasan Rahat(MS) win the BSE Competition
- USDA undersecretary encounters research for specialty crops at Prosser
- Grant aims for smarter harvesting
- WSU and Heritage University scientists to share research at March 31 symposium
- Drones and bird pests
- WSU Flower Thinning Robot
- Three Minute Thesis – Uddhav Bhattarai wins the CAHNRS PhD Competition
- Uddhav Bhattarai is a finalist for best oral presentation at ASABE 2021
- Research Week Celebrates Outstanding Faculty and Staff – Manoj Karkee
- WSU to lead national AI research institute for agriculture
- Robotic crop pollination awarded $1 million grant
- Precision pruning can help machines safely, efficiently harvest apples
- Western Innovator: From Nepal to Robotic Pioneer
- 2019 ASABE Superior Paper Award – Congratulations!
- Online publication labels professor as AI trailblazer
- BSE Faculty Manoj Karkee Named 2019 Pioneer in AI and IoT
- Agricultural robots combine future, farming practices
- WSU, Australian scientists partner to form Joint Center for Ag Robotics
- BSE Faculty Receive 2018 WSDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Awards
- WSU’s apple picking machine provides potential for future orchard operations
- BSE Faculty and Students Attend ASABE 2018 – Student Wins First Place Award
- WSU precision agriculture program ranked in top 25 in world
- Dr. Karkee’s lab funded
- Gap fund awards help get WSU innovations to market
- Aug. 14-17: Global look at agricultural robots, automation
- Boyd-Scott Graduate Research Award 2016
- WSU engineers, scientists prepare to test apple-picking robot
- Robots Picking Apples
- Things that Fly in the Sky
- Manoj Karkee Receives Tree Fruit Harvesting USDA Grant