{"id":215878,"date":"2025-05-13T16:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=215878"},"modified":"2025-05-13T16:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T02:17:19","slug":"farm-robotics-challenge-2025-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/13\/farm-robotics-challenge-2025-winner\/","title":{"rendered":"Pineapple powerhouse: Students\u2019 high-flying farm tech wins international award"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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The team’s robot and drone duo prepare to survey Dole Plantation fields. They are both powered by AI<\/abbr>, with the drone counting the number of pineapples and the robot\u2019s camera creating images of individual fruit to measure the size and volume of each pineapple.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Armed with a drone, robot and vision for the future of farming, a team of University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa undergraduate students developed an AI<\/abbr>-powered system to count and size pineapples in the field—earning them the international Farm Robotics Challenge<\/a> 2025\u2019s Excellence in Productivity (Air) award and a $10,000 prize.<\/p>\n

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Team ʻ\u0100ina<\/span> modifies its on-the-ground robot to travel across pineapple fields. Team members replaced steel beams with elevated aluminum struts so the robot can better move through waist high pineapple leaves.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“At first it was a bit scary going up against all those schools, but I believe we had an advantage,” said junior Rona Lei Duldulao, the lead student organizer of “Team ʻ\u0100ina<\/span>,” made of College of Engineering<\/a> and College of Natural Sciences<\/a> students. “Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> agriculture is very unique, and the climate here makes it convenient to do agriculture projects.”<\/p>\n

The team competed against 34 student teams from the U.S., Asia and Europe to find solutions for problems faced by farmers worldwide. The students chose to use AI<\/abbr> and automation<\/a> to help farmers in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> who are facing a worker shortage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to Dole Plantation and we learned how much work goes into growing these pineapples,\u201d said Duldulao. \u201cWe were very interested in helping the farmers with this labor intensive process and making their work easier for them, because it’s very hard standing out in the sun and doing everything with their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

A team from UH<\/abbr> Maui College<\/a> also competed with a project focused on utilizing drones and robotics for sustainable farming in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>.<\/p>\n

By land and air<\/h2>\n
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The AI<\/abbr>-powered robot moving through row after row of pineapples at Dole Plantation. The robot and its partner, an airborne drone, can help farmers cope with the diminishing number of farm workers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa students decided to attack the problem by land and air, with support from faculty advisors led by Huaijin Chen, assistant professor of computer science<\/a>. They developed software and hardware for a drone and robot duo to survey Dole\u2019s pineapple fields. The drone uses cameras and AI<\/abbr> to count the number of pineapples and track changes over time. The robot\u2019s vision algorithm creates 3D<\/abbr> images of individual fruit to measure the size and shape of each pineapple.<\/p>\n

“By predicting the size of the fruit and its flowering, a farm can better manage their harvesting, planning, marketing and sales of pineapples,” said Robert Paull, a team advisor and professor at the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The commercial uses of this system are promising.<\/p>\n

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Team ʻ\u0100ina<\/span> is made of undergraduates from the College of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences, with support from UH<\/abbr> advisors in computer science, engineering and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I believe this AI<\/abbr>-powered duo can be scaled up to help manage other crops in many different farm settings,” said Chen.<\/p>\n

Team members include Duldulao, Lucas Horsman, Wilson Huynh, Erik Bendickson, Christian Komo, Zadon Padello, Mikhail Shkaralevich and Tyler Mak.<\/p>\n

Chen and College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience faculty members Paull, Ryan Kurasaki and Daniel Jenkins advised the team. Dole Plantation provided in-kind support and help with the project\u2019s video. The College of Engineering, the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience provided seed funding for the project.<\/p>\n

The international competition was organized by the University of California and the AI<\/abbr> Institute for Next Generation Food Systems, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Science Foundation\u2019s National Institute of Food and Agriculture program.<\/p>\n