Engineering students design autonomous crop-surveying rover

Published: January 13, 2025

Author: Dave Bell

Three Greenville University senior engineering students recently introduced a robotic crop surveying device that could revolutionize how farmers monitor the health and nutrient needs of their soybean plants.

The Autonomous Crop Surveying Rover was unveiled during the University’s Common Day of Scholarship in December. On that day, individual students and teams presented academic papers and research projects they had worked on during the fall semester.

Judson Page (pictured in the center in the above photo), an engineering major with an emphasis in design, was the rover project manager. He was joined by team members Thomas Fike (pictured at left), a software engineering major, and Rafael Gascon (pictured at right), a mechanical engineering major. The rover uses GPS technology to move independently through fields, assessing the health of soybean plants by scanning their leaves with a spectrometer to pinpoint the location of unhealthy plants.

“Farmers value data about the health of their plants,” Page said. “But physically getting to all parts of a field is often difficult for them. Our rover reduces the manual labor of walking the fields, provides the farmer with data about specific problem areas, and improves profits by eliminating the need for mass application of nutrients.”

To accomplish those objectives, the team created the following mission statement: “Empowering farmers with precise, data-driven insights to optimize crop health, reduce waste, and enhance sustainable agricultural practices.”

After designing two earlier prototypes, the group settled on a rover that measures 3 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and 3 feet tall. The battery-powered rover moves on two primary drive wheels and is stabilized by four smaller wheels on each corner. As it travels down the rows of young soybean plants at 3-5 miles per hour, a spectrometer assesses the leaf color and records the location of nutrient-deficient plants.

The unit can be programmed to traverse a GPS-defined field, scan plant leaves, change rows, monitor its battery level, and return to a specified location when the scanning is complete. Its estimated cost is $8,000.

As the spring semester begins, the team plans to continue the project by building a rover, writing software, and conducting extensive field testing.

“Our priority is to ensure that the rover scans accurately, provides good location data, and moves efficiently throughout a field,” said Page (pictured below).

The rover project represents an effort through the Common Day of Scholarship to showcase high-level academic work in majors across the Greenville University campus. That day includes thesis defenses by senior-level McAllaster Scholar students and presentations by students who have completed significant scholarly projects. CDS embodies the University’s mission of delivering immersive experiences, encouraging innovation, and nurturing interconnection throughout the GU community.