Agriculture Robots, Herbicide Resistance, and Education

Sense Think Act Podcast

In this episode, Audrow Nash speaks to Tobias Holmes, Quality Assurance Manager at Blue River Technologies. Blue River uses computer vision and robotics in agriculture and was acquired by John Deere in 2017. Tobias speaks about herbicide resistance, spraying weeds, quality assurance and testing on hardware, and on encouraging kids to learn robotics.
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EPISODE LINKS:
– Tobias’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias–holmes–76666369}
– Blue River Technology: https://bluerivertechnology.com/}
– FIRST Robotics: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/frc}
– Crystal Ray High School (East Bay): https://cristoreydelasalle.org/}
PODCAST INFO:
– Podcast website: https://sensethinkact.com}
– Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sense–think–act/id1582090036}
– Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/52wK4oMDvgijRk6E82tC5d}
– RSS: https://sensethinkact.com/itunes.xml}
– Full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/c/SenseThinkActPodcast}
– Clips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChfnCpNwZzYtZ32J–pZvNDg}
OUTLINE:
– (0:00:00) Start
– (0:01:01) Tobias introduces himself
– (0:01:27) About Blue River
– (0:02:49) Agriculture 101
– (0:09:51) How non–row crops are handled
– (0:15:59) Row crops and herbicide resistance
– (0:21:04) How weeds work
– (0:24:20) Strategy for row crops
– (0:27:07) Genetically modified crop
– (0:28:55) Blue River and John Deere
– (0:31:36) What Blue River does best
– (0:37:34) John Deere acquisition
– (0:41:39) Timeline for Blue River
– (0:42:36) What it means to Manage Quality at Blue River
– (0:48:50) Quality assurance in hardware
– (0:52:32) Machine learning in weed spraying
– (1:01:12) Testing systems in the fields
– (1:04:22) Thoughts on robotics and agriculture
– (1:11:07) Using AI in mechanical design
– (1:14:45) Encouraging kids to program + learn robotics
– (1:29:32) Advice for students
– (1:37:14) Links
SOCIAL:
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/sense_think_act}
– Discourse: https://discourse.ros.org/c/sensethinkact/71}