美国韦德纳大学通过机器人自动化力量推动行业发展

美国韦德纳大学通过机器人自动化力量推动行业发展

• 2022-11-30
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美国韦德纳大学通过机器人自动化力量推动行业发展

技术的力量已经改变了全球各行各业，创新技术使公司和组织能够自动化流程并解决行业层面的关键问题。

机器人工程专业的学生Emily Wolfe'22对这一趋势着迷，并准备以此为职业。

“现在几乎所有东西都是自动化的，这对我来说是个好消息，”沃尔夫说。

作为正在进行的研究和改善土壤质量的研究项目的一部分，这位即将升起的大四学生正在与助理教学教授石晓萌一起设计和测试一种自动从田间回收玉米的机制。

尽管近年来农作物产量猛增，但寻找能够有效利用土壤深处养分和水分的农作物品种非常具有挑战性。农业科学家和工程师正在扩大技术应用以解决这些问题并推动行业发展。

作为今年暑期本科生研究和创意活动(SURCA)计划的一部分，Wolfe在今年夏天通过师生研究为其中一项进步做出了贡献。

Emily Wolfe在计算机上构建项目的算法

该项目的下一阶段将要求Wolfe构建一种算法，该算法将被设备的3D红外相机使用。

根据Wolfe的说法，该项目的重点是改进“一种将玉米根从地里抓出的机制，然后使用电动清洗机在装置内将它们清理干净，然后将它们储存起来。然后将他们带回大学，在那里他们创建一个3D模型并使用它来帮助识别玉米根，使它们更具可持续性。”

“现在使用的方法是手动的。这确实是一项耗时且劳动密集型的工作，因此需要这种工具，”最近加入宾夕法尼亚州立大学农业与生物工程系工程系的石说。

他们的调查将有助于由宾夕法尼亚州立大学领导的一项由联邦政府资助的多年期项目，施作为博士后学者参与了该项目。

这个多方面的项目旨在实现一系列目标，例如研究某些作物如何最大限度地利用土壤中的养分和水分。Shi和Wolfe的工作将提高玉米的收集效率，从而加快测试和研究。

在研究项目上与Widener教师合作让学生有机会深入研究主题并更深入地了解他们的课堂如何应用于不同的专业。

“这真的是很好的实践经验，让我更好地了解机器人可以做什么的不同应用，”沃尔夫说。

在Shi的指导下，Wolfe将进入该项目的下一阶段，其中包括创建一种算法，供3D红外相机使用，以在玉米从地里拔出之前识别和测量根系位置。

“在接下来的几周内，我将努力改进摄像系统，并找出如何消除误报，如岩石、杂草或其他你可能在田间发现的不是玉米根的东西，”沃尔夫说。

美国韦德纳大学通过机器人自动化力量推动行业发展

Advancing Industries Through the Power of Robotics Automation

The power of technology has transformed industries across the globe.Innovative technologies are enabling companies and organizations to automate processes and address key issues at the industry level.

Robotics engineering student Emily Wolfe'22 is fascinated by this trend and ready to make a career out of it.

“Nearly everything is automated now which is good news for me,”said Wolfe.

The rising senior is working alongside Xiaomeng Shi,an assistant teaching professor,to design and test a mechanism that will automate corn retrieval from the field as part of an ongoing research project to study and improve soil quality.

While crop production has soared in recent years,finding crop varieties that efficiently utilize nutrients and water deeper in the soil is very challenging.Agricultural scientists and engineers are expanding technology applications to address these problems and advance the industry.

Wolfe is contributing to one of those advances this summer through student-faculty research as part of this year’s Summer Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities(SURCA)program.

Emily Wolfe building the project's algorithm on the computer

The next phase of the project will require Wolfe to build an algorithm that will be used by the device's 3D infrared camera.

According to Wolfe,the project’s focus is to improve“a mechanism that will grab corn roots out of the ground,then clean them off within the unit using a power washer,and then store them.It then brings them back to the university where they then create a 3D model and use that to help identify the corn roots to make them more sustainable.”

“The method that is used right now is manual.It is really time consuming and labor-intensive work so that is why this kind of tool is needed,”said Shi,who recently joined the engineering faculty from Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

Their investigations will contribute to a multi-year,federally funded project led by Penn State that Shi was involved in as post-doctoral scholar.

The multifaceted project seeks to meet a series of objectives,such as studying how certain crops maximize the efficiency of utilizing nutrients and water in the soil.Shi and Wolfe’s work will allow corn to be collected more efficiently,which in turn will expedite testing and research.

Partnering with Widener faculty on research projects gives students an opportunity to dive into topics and get a deeper understanding of how their classroom applies to different specialties.

“It’s really good hands-on experience and gives me a better idea of the different applications of what robotics can do,”said Wolfe.

With guidance from Shi,Wolfe will move to the next phase of the project which includes creating an algorithm used by a 3D infrared camera to identify and measure root placement before corn is pulled out of the ground.

“In the next few weeks I’m going to work to improve the camera system and figure out how to eliminate the false positives such as rocks,weeds or others things that you might find in the field that aren’t corn roots,”said Wolfe.