FARMING is usually considered a difficult and labour-intensive career, but robots equipped for the job are hoped to inspire young people to enter the agriculture sector.
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Canobolas Rural Technology High School will be one of 10 regional high schools across the state to participate in the $1.3 million Ag Robotics STEM Program.
The students have already spent the past term learning how to program a digital farmhand robot, with the robot arriving on Friday.
Taking the shape of a small tractor, the digital farmhand uses low-cost sensors and can be attached to seeders, sprayers or weeders.
Year 10 students Shawn McKeowen and Emma Klose were among the students to learn the coding and said it was a challenge at first, but enjoyable once they became used to it.
When you have larger pieces of land and less farmers, it’s something helpful – more hands, or more wheels.
- Shawn McKeowen
“We’ve used different equipment to work on soil moisture, we’ve used an ultrasonic sensor to measure length and distance,” Shawn said.
“With the ultrasonic sensor, if you move it further away from an object or closer, it measures how far away that is,” Emma said.
Shawn said, with her family’s background running nurseries, she was interested in a future career in horticulture.
“When you have larger pieces of land and less farmers, it’s something helpful – more hands, or more wheels,” she said.
STEM head teacher Matt Scott said the robots were already being trialled on farms and could be set to automatically slash, spray weeds and gather data from the farm.
“It’s STEM, but it’s STEM in the real world,” he said.
University of Sydney robotics professor Salah Sukkarieh said the robots had been developed during the past three years – six months in the building phase and the rest trialling the technology on farms.
He said it was nice to see the students excited about the technology.
Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair announced the funding, saying he was excited to see robotics in schools.
“We know that ag tech is a huge industry we’re looking at in NSW, we know there’s a lot of innovation that’s being applied to farming, but we need the workforce of the future,” he said.
He said the rollout was a way of giving regional students access.
“Let’s bring it to the students rather than the students having to go to our big centres,” he said.
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Danielle Cetinski
Danielle started at the Kiama Independent in 2010 before moving to the Central Western Daily in 2014. She covers council, court, politics, general news and business, and elections are her favourite time of the year. Got a tip? Email danielle.cetinski@centralwesterndaily.com.au
Danielle started at the Kiama Independent in 2010 before moving to the Central Western Daily in 2014. She covers council, court, politics, general news and business, and elections are her favourite time of the year. Got a tip? Email danielle.cetinski@centralwesterndaily.com.au
