Education and Research at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water with a 3-Axis Farming Robot

Abstract

Eastern Shore. He is a member American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and, American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers(ASABE) and is actively involved in teaching and research in the fields of (i) robotics and mechatronics, (ii)remote sensing and precision agriculture, and,(iii) biofuels and renewable energy. He has published more than 70 refereed articles in journals and conference proceedings. Dr. Nagchaudhuri received his baccalaureate degree from Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India with honors in Mechanical Engineering. Thereafter, he worked in a multinational industry for a little over three years before joining Tulane University as a graduate student in the fall of 1987. He received master's degree from Tulane University in 1989 and doctoral degree from Duke University 1992.

Integration of Active Learning Framework in an Instrumentation Course to involve Junior Level Engineering Students in Multidisciplinary Research Projects

“…The outdoor set-up is powered by a small wind turbine ( ~400 Watt) and solar panels (~400 Watts). The FDST graduate student utilizes the platform for small-scale field experiments for his dissertation work and it also provides an educational and experiential learning platform at the nexus of food, energy, and the environment [10]. The study of the charging pattern of the storage battery vis-à-vis solar radiation and wind pattern is of interest to the FarmBot project team.…”

Peanut Trials on Raised Beds with Indoor and Outdoor FarmBot Setups

“…The project promotes student involvement with production agricultural practices on UMES farms for growing corn, soybean, and wheat utilizing advanced farm machinery and drones to promote sustainable intensification through best practices in the growing area of "precision agriculture" at a somewhat larger scale. Integration of advanced digital agricultural tools such as the FarmBots (http://farmbot.io) for growing specialty crops on small raised beds is also central to the overall scope of the project [1][2][3]. Since its inception, the project has adopted the experiential learning [4] paradigm and involved undergraduate students from engineering and other STEM disciplines on campus to engage with one another in a vertically integrated [5] team setting along with the graduate student (s) in the Food Science Technology (FDST) doctoral program on campus.…”

Active Learning Experiences with Embedded Systems, Instrumentation, and Control within and Outside the Classroom

“…There are aspects of the project related to the development of a robotic boat to collect water quality data, a ground rover to collect agricultural field data at specified waypoints, and utilization of state-of-the-art drones with multispectral cameras to obtain variable nutrient and water needs in row crops [4] that provide avenues for active learning outside the classroom related to Instrumentation and Control Systems courses offered for the engineering undergraduates on campus. Also, soft robotics, small mobile robotic platforms with embedded microprocessors and sensors, and flexible automation efforts with industrial robotic arms [5], as well as, automated farming of specialty crops using 3-axis Cartesian robots (FarmBots) serving small raised beds [6] provide opportunities for experiential learning and educational activities incorporated in the AIRSPACES and "Smart Farming" efforts. These efforts are largely executed from the robotics laboratory in the engineering and aviation sciences building on campus and provide excellent avenues for exposing engineering majors to hands-on aspects related to "Instrumentation", "Control Systems", and "Robotics" courses in the engineering curricula offered by the principal author.…”