Enhancing Food Security
Securing access to food on a global scale is an urgent priority, and the fusion of engineering and robotics holds the promise to achieve this goal. Paul Jr.’s commitment to bolstering food security through technological advancements directly confronts the critical issues of agricultural sustainability, and also the production and distribution of food.
Free image showing the use of drones in agriculture
Robotics & Farming
In the summer of 2021, Paul Jr. interned at Fulfil, a startup advancing robotics for the food industry. This experience sparked Paul Jr.’s interest in robotics for agriculture, including vertical farming – a method where crops are grown in controlled indoor vertical layers to maximize space utilization, conserve resources, and optimize crop production. Motivated by a desire to address food security, Paul Jr. pursued a robotics capstone project for his master’s degree to specialize in robotic control for applications like vertical farming.
Drones have versatile applications in vertical farming, including:
Crop Monitoring: Equipped with cameras and sensors, drones capture crop images and data, aiding in plant health assessment, growth tracking, and pest/disease detection.
Irrigation Management: Drones assess soil moisture and optimize water usage by pinpointing irrigation needs.
Pesticide and Fertilizer Application: Drones precisely spray pesticides and fertilizers, reducing manual labor and chemical use.
Environmental Monitoring: Collecting data on temperature, humidity, and light levels, drones aid in adjusting climate control for optimal plant growth.
Paul Jr. and his teammates used MPC on a reduced-order model of legged robots to achieve a task such as skating, falling (like a cat), walking, jumping, and running.