By: Alli Sweigard, VISTA F3 Communications Coordinator
Over 30 attendees filled the Grand Ballroom at the University of California, Merced on November 16 for the second workshop of the Innovation Harvest series. This particular workshop, focused on database applications and real-life applications, highlighting the new AI software made to easily program the Farm ng Amiga robot.
Keynote speakers Daniel Sabzehzar and Phoenix Skeahan, representing Tesserakt Ventures, and Dr. Guilherme De Moura Araujo, a seasoned software engineer from Farm ng, unveiled the groundbreaking AmigaGPT software—a tool that brought about a seismic shift in the realm of AI-driven coding for the Farm ng Amiga robot. The room sparked excitement as students received the first public viewing of the software and witnessed how this innovation could revolutionize programming.
“It is the first time we have seen mass deployment of multi robotic systems in agriculture.” Sabzehzar noted, “You are going to be the first to see this release because we really believe that UC Merced has something that all the other UCs lacked and as an investor, it is something that excites me.”
The speed and efficiency of AmigaGPT is astounding. What once took weeks, if not months, to program, could now be accomplished in minutes or hours. Witnessing the instant application of code, students took to their laptops, diving headfirst into this new technology. Among them, a few volunteers stepped up to present their code to the audience, showing just how simple AmigaGPT can be to learn and use.
F3 Innovate hosted the event and encouraged students to partake in the upcoming 2024 Farm Robotics Challenge. This challenge, a cross-university endeavor, brings together bright minds to engineer new applications for the Farm ng Amiga robot. Dr. Araujo was part of UC Davis’s winning team from the previous year—a steppingstone that landed him a career at Farm ng.
“My goal today was really to show you all how simple it is to create a code and put it inside the robot,” Dr. Araujo remarked, “Developing on the Amiga shouldn’t be a complicated task. The Amiga is there to help you fly; you just have to be creative. We try as hard as we possibly could and should give you the tools and access to the basic platform you need.”
Moreover, the event aimed to ignite a passion for agtech careers among students, envisioning a future where the industry flourishes with their contributions.
“I want to encourage anyone that’s not a tech major to consider pursuing this as an opportunity to build a career in ag tech,” said Dr. Leigh Bernacchi, Executive Director of F3 Innovate at UC Merced, “we’re also working on building the entrepreneurial ecosystem and giving you resources to start your ideas. So, let’s get started and build this ecosystem for great ideas and work together.”
As the evening wound down, students were able to ask questions to the speakers and get an up-close look at the Farm ng Amiga robot. This event sparked students’ interest in ag tech and also brought in new minds to participate in the next Farm Robotics Challenge. In 2024, F3 Innovate will continue hosting these workshops on campus to give students access to ag tech opportunities for their futures.