DLG Feldtage 2024 event at Estate Brockhof – 11 to 13 June 2024 in Erwitte, Germany- annual ‘Field Robot Event’ competition – international student teams present field robots to compete in practical field tasks

The DLG Feldtage event, a leading venue for crop professionals,  will be held next month from 11 to 13 June in Erwitte, Germany guided by the theme ‘Crop production out of the box’. The Field Robot Event (FRE) will once again take place at this year’s DLG Feldtage field exhibition. Over three days, international teams of students will compete live with their field robots,  performing tasks like weed recognition. The participants come from countries in Europe, including Norway, Italy, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Germany.

Long before digitalisation became a hot topic in the agricultural debate, the Field Robot Event was initiated by Wageningen University (Netherlands) back in 2003 and has since established itself as a permanent fixture in the agricultural robotics sector.

The aim of the annual competition is to test pioneering technologies in the sector of robotics and precision farming and to give young scientists the opportunity to exchange ideas, form networks and further develop their thinking with like-minded international participants.

Challenging tasks for the robots in the field

Over three days, the international student teams will compete against each other in five different categories. The event starts on Tuesday, 11 June, at 9:30 am. Robert Everwand, Agrotech Valley Forum, Stefan Stiene, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück and Burkhard Wrenger Technische Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe (TH OWL) will officially open the event at stand GC 146.

From 10:00 to 12:00, the students will be navigating their robots through a maize field. After the lunch break, the next task will be performed from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm. In this exercise, the students have to prove how well their robots can recognise objects in the field. The field robots will be programmed to drive through the maize field and count the number of plants in each row. The results obtained by the robots must be presented immediately after the individual rows have been completed. The winners of the first day’s tasks will be announced on the Expert Stage from 5.00 pm to 5.30 pm.

On Wednesday, 12 June, the competition starts at 10 a.m. with the category ‘Mapping in a grassland area’. The task is to identify and map weeds. From 2 pm to 4 pm, the field robots will return to the grassland. The weeds that were mapped in the morning must now be found again and crop protection measures implemented. From 5 pm to 5.30 pm, the winners of the second day will be selected. From 6 pm to 6.30 pm, the finalists of the entire Field Robot Event will be honoured on the Feldtage Stage.

On Thursday, 13 June, ‘Free Style’ will be the order of the day from 10 am to 11.30 am. In the freestyle category, teams have been invited to present their own ideas on how to perform field tasks that they have selected. The competition encourages all ideas and participants are expected to present novel solutions to complex tasks. The winners of the last day will be announced at 11.30 am.

Professional sponsors for the FieldRobot event

This year’s FieldRobot event is organised by Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, TH OWL University of Applied Sciences and Agrotech Valley, which are hosting the event at the DLG Feldtage in cooperation with the DLG  (German Agricultural Society).

The event is sponsored by:

• AMAZONEN-WERKE H. DREYER SE & Co. KG
• AlliedVision Technologies GmbH
• RAUCH Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH
• HARTING Stiftung & Co. KG
• VME-Stiftung Osnabrück-Emsland
• Maschinenfabrik Bernard KRONE GmbH & Co. KG
• EurAgEng – the European Society of Agricultural Engineers
• Claas Stiftung
• DLG Service GmbH

DLG. Progress and sustainability in the agriculture and food industry

The DLG (German Agricultural Society), founded in 1885 by Max Eyth, stands for productivity and sustainability in innovation-driven improvements in agriculture and the food chain. The aim of the DLG is to promote progress through the transfer of knowledge – especially with regard to technology and quality control. Non-profit, politically independent and with an international network, the DLG has more than 31,000 members worldwide.

As one of the leading organizations in its sector, the DLG not only organizes trade fairs and events in the fields of agriculture and food technology but also tests food, agricultural technology and equipment. With its competence centers for agriculture and food, its demonstration farm where practical trials take place along with its numerous publications, the DLG continually promotes independent knowledge transfer. In addition, the DLG works on numerous national and international committees of experts to develop solutions for the challenges facing agriculture and the food industry www.dlg.org