AgriFoRwArdS Newsletter Issue 8 - April 2022 Edition

Welcome to the 8th issue of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Newsletter, scroll down to find out what has been happening within AgriFoRwArdS, and the wider Agri-Food Robotics community, recently.

We are very pleased to have recently joined LinkedIn, make sure to follow us for all the latest!

Geometric Algebra to Interpret Point Clouds

Haris Matsantonis is a Cohort 2 student who is studying his PhD at the University of Cambridge, alongside primary supervisor Prof Joan Lasenby. His PhD, ‘Design and implementation of a machine vision system to promote precision agriculture innovation using novel Geometric Algebra techniques’, aims to develop state of the art autonomous robots (articulated or mobile) for agricultural production systems.

Haris tells us a little more about Geometric Algebra, and its uses within agri-robotics.

Geometric algebra is a powerful mathematical language for expressing physical ideas. It can unify diverse mathematical formalisms and provides geometric insights as well as physical ones. In light of this, if an initial frame of vectors is related to a final frame of vectors by an orthogonal transformation (Linear Algebra) or a rotor (Geometric Algebra), we often want to find this rotor given the initial and final sets of vectors. A closed-form solution based on GA was developed and compared with the Singular Value Decomposition. The results showed that the GA method performed marginally better than the SVD in terms of the Frobenius norm and orthogonality error. One very common example is finding a rotor or 4-by-4 orthogonal matrix representing rotation and translation, given knowledge of initial and transformed points.

The application of the proposed GA method in computer vision presents tremendous opportunities with new perspectives, new methods, and new problems. Since the first emerging computer vision approaches for agricultural robotics around three decades ago, methods that interpret range data, such as point clouds, have become a key sensing technology. Point cloud data is a general term for a set of three-dimensional points in a known reference coordinate system sampled from the surfaces of objects. Considering that the GA solutions explored are pieces of a bigger puzzle for getting a more accurate estimation of 3D registration accuracy, our short-term future direction is to use the closed-form GA solution (described above) to develop an alternative method to the widely used Iterative Closest Point algorithm, assessing its performance in the presence of noise and with partially matching point clouds.

More information on Haris’ research interests can be found on his AgriFoRwArdS profile. If you would like to discuss Haris’ research in more detail, please get in touch with the AgriFoRwArdS team at agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk.

British Science Week Encourages Interest in STEM Subjects

AgriFoRwArdS Students came together for British Science Week (14th to 18th March 2022) to celebrate agri-food robotics. University of Lincoln students, took part in an open day event, held within the Isaac Newton Building on the 16th March, and organised by the University of Lincoln's College of Science.

The British Science Week open day gave pre-university students, as well as the public, the chance to get involved with interactive activities, and offered an insight into the future of science and studying within higher education. The event welcomed over 100 students from across the county.

The event showcased expertise from a broad range of subject areas within the College of Science, including the MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, which current Cohort 3 students are studying as the first part of their AgriFoRwArdS CDT programme.

We would like to say a massive thank you to the Student team (Garry Clawson, Samuel Carter, Xumin Gao, Nikolaos Tsagkopoulos, Karoline Heiwolt, Willow Mandil and Roopika Ravikanna) for volunteering their time to make the event a success. The AgriFoRwArdS Students were also supported by Stephen Rerri-Bekibele (MSc RAS student), and Dr Soran Parsa from the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS).

The team developed an interactive learning journey which included;

• a simple actuation and control system using Arduino’s, solenoids and servos
• a vision system that could track coloured artefacts in real time
• a demonstration of a remote control 4 wheel drive Buggy and a ROS, and Gazebo simulation system that can autonomously navigate a grape vineyard and count all the ripe grapes on the vines

Each of these demonstrations were designed, programmed, printed and built using skills the students’ have learnt during Semester A of the MSc RAS program.

Visitors also had the opportunity to hear AgriFoRwArdS CDT Director, Prof Marc Hanheide, give the events keynote speech ‘ROBOTS IN THE WILD’.

Karoline: Taking part in the British Science Week event was great. I think we managed to get a lot of the students excited to play around with the robots and start thinking about how things work in the background. I think it was an inspiring day not just for the visiting students but also for me to be able to share my enthusiasm and socialise with other AgriFoRwArdS students.

Xumin: It is a great opportunity to show the achievements of AgriFoRwArdS CDT to others.

The open day was a fantastic success due to the wonderful effort, engagement and interactions demonstrated by the AgriFoRwArdS CDT students.

AgriFoRwArdS Celebrate Women in Science for International Women's Day 2022

This year, in celebration of International Women’s Day 2022 on the 8th March, we spoke to some of the inspirational women involved in the AgriFoRwArdS CDT.

Firstly we looked back at last year's chat between CDT students Karoline and Roopika, during which they discussed their thoughts about women studying and working in STEM subjects.

We continued the week's celebration by introducing Cohort 3 student, Bethan Moncur. Bethan is currently studying her MSc at Lincoln, and will be moving back to Cambridge (where she studied her BSc) for her PhD study. We asked Bethan about her experience of joining the CDT and her inspiration for studying a STEM subject.

To conclude this year's celebration, we introduced you to Dr Tahmina Zebin. Tahmina is a Lecturer within the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. She is also a member of the Smart Technologies Research Group.

Thank you to all those involved with this year's celebration. If you would like to help us honour women in STEM subjects next year, please do get in touch at agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk.

Upcoming Events

Keep up to date with all the events and activities within the AgriFoRwArdS CDT by checking the activities page on our website.

The AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Series will return in May

The Seminar Series is taking a little break for the Easter Holiday period, but will return in full force in May 2022. On Friday 18th May 2022 at 3pm we will hear from Ali Capper, Chairman of the NFU Horticulture & Potatoes Board. More details regarding Ali's talk will be released soon.

You can watch our archive of previous seminar series talks here. If you wish to be added to the Seminar Series mailing list please email agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk.

Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting to Visit Cambridge

AgriFoRwArdS students and staff meet quarterly to give our students the opportunity to update the community on their PhD research. The next meeting will be taking place at the University of Cambridge on 6th May, between 9am and 3pm.

Students, Supervisors and other AgriFoRwArdS staff have all been invited to this exciting chance to discuss AgriFoRwArdS research, in person for the first time (previous events have taken place online due to the pandemic). PhD students from the Universities of East Anglia and Lincoln will be presenting their research, while PhD students from the University of Cambridge will be supporting the organisation and running of the event.

If you are interested in attending this event, please email the Cambridge AgriFoRwArdS Team using this online form.

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2022

The University of Lincoln is delighted to be hosting the third AgriFoRwArdS Annual Conference in June 2022. This will be the first CDT Conference to take place in person, giving exciting opportunity for discussion, networking, collaboration and learning. Presentations and activities will follow the conference theme of autonomous systems and sustainability in agriculture.

The conference, coinciding with the Lincolnshire Show, will take place on the 22nd and 23rd June 2022 and will be held at the University of Lincoln’s Brayford Campus, within the spectacular Isaac Newton Building. The drinks reception and conference dinner will be hosted at the beautiful Old Hall, beside the lake at Riseholme.

If you have not received an email inviting you to register for the Annual Conference, please contact us at agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk.

The Programme

Conference Day One (Wednesday 22nd June 2022) – Hear from Dr Michelle Cain of Cranfield University, Dr Paul Miller from Silsoe Spray Ltd, Prof Nick Hawes of the University of Oxford, Dr Fernando Auat from Herriot Watt University, Eirini Kokkali from EPSRC and the CDT’s students. The day will include tours of the Isaac Newton Building’s facilities and a poster display.

Conference Drinks Reception and Dinner (Wednesday 22nd June 2022) – Hosted at the University of Lincoln’s picturesque Riseholme Campus, the evening social event will include a drinks reception within the Old Hall, tours of the Riseholme Campus, and a 3-course dinner.

Conference Day Two (Thursday 23rd June 2022) – Hear from Dr David Rose from the University of Reading and the CDT’s students. The conference will conclude at lunch time on Day Two, lunch will be provided.

The SMART Winter School

In December 2021 AgriFoRwArdS CDT students, whose research focuses on soft robotics and manipulation, attended the first International Winter School on Smart Materials for Soft Robotics. The Winter School was organised and run by the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with SMART and SHERO Soft-Robotics projects, which are sponsored by the EU Research Council.

The SMART Winter School offered various activities over five days, with lectures in the morning and practical tutorials in the afternoons. The AgriFoRwArdS CDT students experienced the opportunity to network and discuss their own research with Academics from various European universities and companies, who develop Soft Robotics materials.

University of Cambridge Community Open Day

In March every year, the University of Cambridge opens its laboratories, lecture theatres and research centres to the public, as part of a week-long Festival of Science. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the University ran online events for the occasion.

This year the Cambridge Festival returned to its usual format and the University were able to welcome the public, presenting to them, scientific achievements in various areas of research. The event was visited by 114 people, most of whom were families with children.

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT participated in the Festival alongside related Cambridge projects, the Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL) and the Observatory of Human-Machine Collaboration (OHMC). The aim of the robotics demonstrations run by the three projects was to show the public the ability robotics has to complete tasks usually only possible for Humans.

The robotic demonstrations included:

• Agripod: presented by William Rohde (AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cohort 2 Student)
• Vegibot: presented by Elijah Almanzor (AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cohort 2 Student)
• Kitchenbot: presented by Grzegorz Sochacki (AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cohort 1 Student)
• Piano-bot: presented by BIRL student Emily Zhang
• Balloon-bot: presented by BIRL student Fan Ye
• Stomach-bot: presented by BIRL postdoctoral researcher Ryman Hashem
• RoboPatient: presented by BIRL PhD students Leo Costa and Thilina
• Soft Finger: presented by BIRL postdoctoral researchers Arsen Abdulali and Thomas George Thuruthel
• Foodly: presented by BIRL PhD student Kieran Gilday

The Cambridge Science Festival always provides an exciting opportunity to communicate research to the public and demonstrate the societal benefits of this amazing research.

Dr Tahmina Zebin

Dr Tahmina Zebin is a Lecturer in Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. Originally from Bangladesh, Tahmina received her first degree, and an MS in Applied Physical, Electronics and Communication Engineering, from the University of Dhaka. Tahmina then completed an MSc at the University of Manchester, and continued on to study her PhD there.

Tahmina’s current study focus is on explainable AI, Edge AI, and video and image processing. She became involved with the CDT because it is a unique opportunity to be part of research which has a real impact on the agricultural industry. Tahmina’s specific agri-robotics focuses include, data-driven AI solutions for field video and Edge AI based system design.

In her spare time, Tahmina enjoys gardening, reading, and listening to music. She can also speak four languages! English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu!

Tahmina recently took part in our celebration of women in AgriFoRwArdS, which you can read more about above.

Prof Hatice Gunes

Prof Hatice Gunes is a Professor of Affective Intelligence and Robotics within the Department of Computer Sciences and Technology at the University of Cambridge.

Prior to joining Cambridge in 2016, Hatice was a Lecturer, then Senior Lecturer, in the School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Imperial College London, and an Honorary Associate of the University of Technology, Sydney.

Hatice’s research interests are within the areas of affective computing and social signal processing that lie at the crossroad of multiple disciplines including, computer vision, signal processing, machine learning, multimodal interaction and human-robot interaction.

Hatice’s current research vision is to embrace the challenges present in the area of health, and empower the lives of people through creating socio-emotionally intelligent technology. This vision is currently supported by three new projects, funded by prestigious and competitive grants via the WorkingAge Project [funded by the EU H2020 Programme (2019–2022), the EPSRC Fellowship Programme (2019–2024) and the Turing Faculty Fellowship Programme (2019-2022)].

Hatice cares very much about popularising science communication and public engagement. She has been interviewed by BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and BBC World Service for both radio and TV ('Click'). She demonstrated her research live at the Cambridge Science Festival (2017), Bristol Watershed (2016), at Bristol Science Centre (2016), and the Welcome Collection (2016). In 2018, she was one of the Academics involved in Cambridge's Hay20 for The Hay Culture and Literary Festival, talking about Demystifying the Human-like Robot.

NARGES KHADEM HOSSEINI

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cambridge team would like to introduce our new technician, Mrs Narges Khadem Hosseini, who joined us in January.

Narges completed her MSc study in Control Signalling at the Iran University of Science and Technology in 2016. She has more than 6 years’ experience in Engineering research, condition monitoring and signal processing applied to the Railway industry.

Narges was then involved in an industrial research project funded by Innovate UK in condition monitoring of wind turbines. Her main areas of research include machine learning, deep learning, Automatic Train Operation (ATO), train energy optimisation, current signature analysis and fault detection and diagnosis. Narges’ main research work is based on novel condition monitoring techniques for optimising train energy consumption.

Narges has been working with the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cambridge team for two months and we are very pleased to have her with us.

Students Visit Jersey to Further Collaborations

AgriFoRwArdS CDT Cohort 2 students, Bradley Hurst and Elijah Almanzor, from the University of Lincoln and the University of Cambridge respectively, visited Jersey for a second time as part of their ongoing PhD research with industry partner, Jersey Farmers Union (JFU). Accompanying the visit was University of Lincoln's Senior Lecturer in Agri-Robotics, Dr Petra Bosilj.

JFU are co-sponsoring Bradley and Elijah’s PhD projects, which will together develop a fully autonomous potato planting solution. You can find out more about the projects on the students respective AgriFoRwArdS profiles linked above.

The students’ visits to Jersey, have allowed JFU to demonstrate their current planting process, and highlight the challenges they face. The students have been able to collect data, validate assumptions, and develop their research further.

You can find out more about the students’ visit on the AgriFoRwArdS Student Blog.

Find out about the other research ongoing within the agri-food technology sector at Lincoln - https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/liat/research/roboticsandautomation/

Let us know if you have any interesting research, publications, or outreach opportunities to share, email agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk!

The Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology regularly attend shows and events within the Agri-Food Robotics sector. Some of the upcoming events where you will see them include…

• LAMMA – 4th and 5th May 2022
• Cereals – 8th and 9th June 2022
• Groundswell – 22nd and 23rd June 2022

AgriFoRwArdS CDT are always on the lookout for news and developments within the field, these particular advances excite the team!

• the-future-of-agriculture-starts-now-john-deere-launches-autonomous-8r-tractor
• farming-innovation-pathways-lightweeding
• agri-epi-explores-drone-technology-for-precision-spraying

Let us know if you have any exciting news and we will add it to our next edition, just email the team at agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk!

If you have any comments, information or news you wish to share with the AgriFoRwArdS community, please do get in touch - We'd love to hear from you.

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT Delivery Team - agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk

Visit us on the web at www.agriforwards-cdt.ac.uk and don’t forget to subscribe to the AgriFoRwArdS CDT YouTube channel, and follow us on LinkedIn.