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Fall 2022 GRASP on Robotics: Jim Ostrowski, Blue River Technology, “Robotics and Deep Learning in Production Agriculture”
October 21, 2022 at 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance via Zoom.
ABSTRACT
With a growing population to feed, a heightened awareness of the environmental impact of agriculture, and continued challenges of labor availability, the need is greater than ever for advanced technologies applied to automation and autonomy in agriculture. In this talk, I will describe two projects that we have been developing, and discuss the role of robotics, computer vision, and machine learning in delivering commercially viable products. The products include a smart spraying solution called See & Spray Ultimate and an autonomous tractor for tillage. I will explore some of the key focus areas, technological development, and common themes that have allowed us to move these products to production.
Jim Ostrowski
Blue River Technology
Dr. Jim Ostrowski is the Chief Technology Officer for Blue River Technology, a Sunnyvale-based company working to bring tools from computer vision and robotics to bear in agriculture. Blue River Technology, which was acquired by John Deere in 2017, is developing See & Spray technology that provides real-time weed detection and spraying and can reduce herbicide usage by 90%. Along with that, Blue River has developed autonomous tractors for tillage and other operations. Before that, Jim worked for Evolution Robotics, which later became Evolution Robotics Retail, before being acquired by Datalogic. Jim’s field of expertise includes mobile robotics, nonlinear dynamics, and vision-based recognition and control using classical tools and leveraging Deep Learning. Before joining the start-up world, Jim was at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and a member of the General Robotics, Sensing, Automation and Perception (GRASP) Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He is a former Associate Editor for the journal IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, was the recipient of the NSF CAREER Young Investigator Award for his work in robotics, and received a Datalogic VIP award for his technical work on the LaneHawk product.