AgriFoRwArdS Newsletter Issue 21 - July 2025 Edition

Welcome to the 21st 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.

Make sure to follow us on Linked In to keep up to date with all the latest news and activities!

Highlights of the last quarter

April

• Jacob Swindell publishes pre-print article 'Discrete Gaussian Process Representations for Optimising UAV-based Precision Weed Mapping'.
• Omar Faris publishes work 'Toward autonomous blackberry harvesting with a soft gripper and vision-controlled robotic arm' in the proceedings for the 2025 IEEE 8th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft).
• Yi Zhang, Amanda Xu, and Catherine Merchant each co-chair sessions at the Embodied Intelligence Conference 2025.
• Amanda Xu presents 'In-Situ Classification of Soil Types Exploiting Electrical Impedance Tomography with a Robotic Actuating Probe' at the Embodied Intelligence Conference 2025.
• Catherine Merchant presents 'Robust Cutting with Virtual Model Control' at the Embodied Intelligence Conference 2025.

May

• Emlyn Williams publishes pre-print article 'Zero-Shot Sim-to-Real Reinforcement Learning for Fruit Harvesting'.
• Haris Matsantonis publishes his PhD thesis 'Mathematical Advancements in Geometric Algebra for 3D Registration Problems'.
• Garry Clawson is a member of an organisation committee for the University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing IRRG Agri-Food Supply Chain Resilience Workshop 2025.

June

• Xumin Gao takes part in the Interactive Perception workshop with colleagues from Wageningen University and Research, and the University of Lincoln.
• Omar Ali, Robert Stevenson, and Emmanuel Soumo assist with organising, and take part in the inaugural East Midlands Home Robotics Competition. Read more.
• Catherine Merchant and Amanda Xu have their paper accepted to IROS 2025.
• Emlyn Williams, Andy Perrett, Jacob Swindell, Xumin Gao, and Omar Ali all present their research at the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems Robotics and AI Showcase Event (RAISE)

Discover more exciting achievements below!

AgriFoRwArdS Students compete at Field Robot Event 2025

The University of Lincoln's robotics team, LCASTOR, recently embarked on an exciting journey to Milan, Italy, to compete in the 22nd annual Field Robot Event (June 2025). Organised by AIRLab from Politecnico di Milano, this competition brought together 16 university teams from 10 different countries across Europe, Turkey, and Tunisia, all competing in agri-robotics tasks.

AgriFoRwArdS Cohort 5 student Elliot Smith joined 4 other members of staff and students from the University, who were also supported by a remote team who stayed at home, including CDT Student's Emmanuel Soumo and Robert Stevenson. The team used LCAS research in crop row navigation and fruit detection and a Rover Zero3 robot equipped with an array of sensors.

The Field Robot Event 2025 was an incredible learning experience, we’ve returned to Lincoln with fresh insights, new friendships, and an even stronger drive to compete next year.

Find out more and see more pictures - https://lcas.lincoln.ac.uk/wp/lcastor-at-field-robot-event-2025/

Bethan presents at Future Food Symposium 2025

On 22nd May 2025, Bethan Moncur presented her research at the Future Food Symposium 2025, hosted by Birmingham Business School. Her presentation, titled "Integrating Health and Sustainability Criteria into the Food Product Development Process", explored why decision-makers in food manufacturing give priority to different factors during NPD (new product development), and the internal and external influences on this prioritisation.

Bethan's presentation featured in a track focused on systematic approaches to sustainability. The conference encompassed a variety of food related issues including food insecurity, food waste and climate change. This included an inspiring plenary talk by Charlotte Hill and Dan Byam Shaw from The Felix Project, a charity tackling food waste and hunger in London.

Link to the conference website: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/business/events/2025/future-food-symposium-2025

Link to the abstracts/summaries of the presentations: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-social-sciences/business/events/2025/abstracts-for-review-allffs.pdf

Emmanuel visits Crystal Heart Salad

AgriFoRwArdS student Emmanuel Soumo recently visited his industry partner, Crystal Heart Salad Company, who are completing a two-year InnovateUK project within their rather impressive experimental greenhouse. The InnovateUK project was closely aligned with Emmanuel’s MSc Project: A Data-Driven Approach for Optimal Control of Autonomous Greenhouse for Lettuce Growth.

James Bean and his team at Crystal Heart, alongside other project partners, held an event at the end of April, to showcase the project to researchers, potential users, and providers of complementary technology.

The event commenced with presentations to explain the thinking behind the design (a control system within the greenhouse), and in the afternoon there was plenty of time to look around the greenhouse, speak with the project partners, and to meet other guests (who were bristling with exciting thoughts and ideas).

Emmanuel highly valued his inclusion at the event, and had a productive conversation with a Crystal Heart Senior Engineer who was responsible for installing the control system in the greenhouse. They spoke in detail regarding the intelligent control strategies that Emmanuel is developing as part of his PhD research, and opportunities were identified for continued collaboration and future testing of Emmanuel’s PhD work.

The AgriFoRwArdS community, and student/industry collaboration, provides students with insights, skills, and confidence that is highly unique to CDTs. Advantages include: Real time plant monitoring; addressing real world challenges; mentorship and feedback from industry experts; internships and future employment opportunities, all whilst working together on 1 issue that ensures greater impact for both the industry collaborator and the student.

Future of Search Prize: AgriFoRwArdS CDT Students hold the Highest Award

Kyle Fogarty and Jack Foster won the Future of Search Prize at the AI Engine UK University Hackathon earlier this year, by developing their own search platform the Agentic Search Analytics Platform (ASAP)

The 2025 Hackathon happened in the UCL AI Centre and the AgriFoRwArdS CDT students were in the winning team, alongside fellow Cambridge PhD student Stephan Schöpf.

Kyle Fogarty said: “Jack Foster, our colleague Stefan, and I recently won the Future of Search Prize at the AI Engine UK University Hackathon for developing a platform that analyses how people use conversational AI for search. As more users turn to large language models for searching, we set out to create a platform that offers a suite of tools—similar to SEO, but tailored for this new kind of search. Reflecting on the experience, it was incredibly rewarding to step outside our usual academic research and take on a completely different technical challenge. The fast-paced, high-energy day gave us the chance to quickly pick up new skills and connect with a lot of great people. I’d highly recommend giving a hackathon a go if you ever get the opportunity!”

Jack Foster said: "The hackathon was supported by a nice mix of technical and VC partners, which meant building something that added both technical and business value. This was an interesting step change from academia, where technical novelty is king. I always enjoy hackathons and would recommend them to everyone. PhD's tend to be marathons, Hackathons are always a great way of reminding yourself how much you can achieve in a sprint."

The team's innovation caught the attention of industry judges, earning them both the Future of Search prize and Anthropic's "Most Beneficial through Human Hours Saved" award, which included $2,000 in credits.

The project emerged from one of the UK's most competitive AI hackathons, featuring over 150 students from leading institutions including Oxford, UCL, and Imperial College London. As businesses increasingly adopt AI-powered search solutions, platforms like ASAP will become crucial for understanding and optimising these new search approaches.

We would like to congratulate our students on their success!

Pat Wichitwechkarn visits Stanford University, California

In April, I had the exciting opportunity to spend time at Stanford University as a visiting researcher. As expected, the beautiful campus, perfect weather and vibrant academic environment made it an inspiring place to dive into my work. I quickly settled into my new office, where I continued developing my research on Robotics and AI for indoor farming in urban environments which is the hottest research topic that addresses optimisation of space for sustainable food production. This involves leveraging AI to manage environmental factors like temperature, light, and humidity, and using robots to automate tasks like planting, weeding, and harvesting within controlled environments.

While at Stanford, I presented my work to two research groups: the Urban Informatics Lab and the Gradient Spaces Lab. Each brought fresh insights and valuable perspectives:

• The Urban Informatics Lab, which focuses on urban design and energy optimization, offered deep relevance for how indoor farming can be integrated into future cities.
• The Gradient Spaces Lab shared their cutting-edge work on 3D reconstruction and applied AI for digital twins, which aligns closely with my own efforts to build digital twin models for controlled indoor farm environments.

What stood out to me most was the deeply entrepreneurial culture. There was a clear emphasis on the commercialization of research, with talks, panels, and many conversations around how academic innovation can move into the real world. Meeting people who had successfully made this transition was incredibly motivating.

I also had the pleasure of visiting Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where I presented my work and exchanged ideas with researchers who are using AI in the building energy field. The discussions there were rich and opened up promising avenues for potential collaboration.

… and, yes, it was not all “sleepless nights over the lab trials”! I also spent some time sightseeing from the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, to the California's stunning natural areas!

A Winning Debut: Jacob Swindell’s First Paper and Best Student Paper Award at IAS’19!

We’re absolutely thrilled to celebrate a fantastic achievement by Jacob Swindell, a promising AgriFoRwArdS PhD student. Jacob recently presented his very first research paper at the prestigious IAS’19 conference in Genoa, Italy, and to top it all off, he walked away with the highly prestigious Best Student Paper Award! What an incredible debut on the international stage.

Jacob’s paper, “Discrete Gaussian Process Representations for Optimising UAV-based Precision Weed Mapping“, showcases groundbreaking work in an area vital for the future of sustainable agriculture. His research explores how to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of drone-based weed mapping, ultimately enabling farmers to make informed decisions and minimise environmental impact.

This success is a testament to Jacob’s dedication and the collaborative spirit of his supervision. Jacob is co-supervised by Dr. Riccardo Polvara at the University of Lincoln and Dr. Marija Popovic from TU Delft, bringing together expertise from two leading institutions. We also want to acknowledge the crucial support from farmB, an innovative digital agriculture company, which co-sponsored Jacob’s PhD, enabling this impactful research.

Winning the Best Student Award at a conference of IAS’s calibre is a significant recognition of the quality and potential of Jacob’s work. It’s a proud moment for Jacob, his supervisors, and the AgriFoRwArdS CDT.

Please join us in congratulating Jacob on this outstanding achievement! We’re excited to see what he’ll accomplish next.

AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2025

This year’s AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference took to Zoom as we opened up the event to a worldwide audience.

The online conference, held on the 15th and 16th May 2025, saw more than 150 delegates join us from across the world, for talks addressing global food challenges and real-life robotics applications.

The conference brought together engineering researchers and students alike, enabling discussions into how developments in robotics and other modern technologies can help address pressing problems in food supply. Through presentations and panel discussions, the event tackled issues such as climate change, soil degradation, and unsustainable agricultural practices.

Read more about the conference on the University of Cambridge website – https://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/addressing-pressing-problems-food-supply-agri-food-robotics-online-conference.

You can also catch up on all the talks via the AgriFoRwArds YouTube channel, or the playlists below.

AgriFoRwArdS Summer School 2025 - Going to the Dogs!

The AgriFoRwArdS Summer School brought together six interdisciplinary teams of AgriFoRwArdS Students to collaboratively develop components of a future robotic shepherding system. Over the course of an intensive week, participants combined expertise in robotics, AI, drone technology, communications, and ethics to create and test early prototypes and strategies for autonomous livestock herding. The goal was not only technical advancement but also to explore the societal and economic implications of replacing traditional herding methods with robotic systems.

The AgriFoRwArdS Summer School was not only a hub of technical innovation but also a vibrant social experience that fostered community and collaboration. On Tuesday, students gathered for a relaxed group dinner, offering a chance to unwind, share experiences, and strengthen personal connections in a casual setting. Thursday brought a choice between two adrenaline-filled activities—axe throwing or go-karting—encouraging friendly competition and laughter, and adding a memorable, lighthearted dimension to the week.

The program concluded with final presentations from all six teams, each showcasing their progress, innovations, and insights from the week’s challenges. The quality of work across the board was impressive, but Group 5 (“ShepSim”) stood out for their exceptional teamwork, well-structured project, and engaging delivery. They were awarded the Summer School Award, earning high praise from all. The summer school wrapped up on a high note, celebrating both technical achievements and the lasting bonds formed during a week of learning, fun, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Read more about the Summer School on the AgriFoRwArdS website - https://agriforwards-cdt.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/2025/07/11/from-bark-to-bot-making-of-a-robotic-shepherd/.

Annual Industry Day at AgriFoRwArdS Cambridge, May 2025

In May 2025, the AgriFoRwArdS CDT hosted its Annual Industry Day at the University of Cambridge. Now a key fixture in the AgriFoRwArdS calendar, the event offers a valuable and engaging opportunity for attendees to connect, share ideas, and build collaborations in a relaxed, informal setting.

Following an introduction by Professor Fumiya Iida, Cambridge's AgriFoRwArdS Lead, the group heard from three former AgriFoRwArdS students who shared insights into their PhD projects and collaborations with industry partners. Haihui, Elijah, and Will each reflected on the value of these partnerships, highlighting how the experience shaped their research and career paths. All three have continued their academic journeys through the LINCAM funding scheme, further building on the foundations laid during their time with AgriFoRwArdS.

Read more about this successful event on the AgriFoRwArdS website:

👉 Annual Industry Day at AgriFoRwArdS Cambridge – May 2025

Dr Jeannette Chin - Introducing the new University of East Anglia AgriFoRwArdS Academic Lead

Dr Jeannette Chin joined the AgriFoRwArdS CDT as the University of East Anglia’s Academic Lead in June 2025. Jeannette is an Associate Professor at UEA. She is recognised for her contributions to the fields of Computer Science and Intelligent Environments where she explored how ordinary users can customise and interact with smart environments and technologies through End User Programming by example. Her current research interests are broadly focused on areas in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) with AI in the field of End-User Programming in physical/MR/XR environments, and the development of emotion-aware adaptive interfaces.

Prior to her current position with UEA, Jeannette graduated with First Class Honours in Internet Computing from The University of Essex in 2003, and was awarded a PhD in Computing Science by The University of Essex in 2009 for a thesis entitled "Pervasive Interactive Programming". After working as a Senior Technical Officer for The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) from 2008-2012, she held an academic appointment at Angia Ruskin University before joining The University of East Anglia as a lecturer in 2019. Jeannette was promoted to Associate Professor in August 2023.

Jeannette is also a Senior Fellow of AdvanceHE and a Fellow of British Computer Society. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed research articles including journal papers and book chapters. She is a member of the editorial team for the IET Smart Cities Journal, Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments (JAISE), and Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments (AISE). Jeannette has a track record of delivering external and internal funded projects, as Principal Investigator, to successful completion. She received the Chancellor Innovation Award on "Outstanding Achievement" (2021) for her work on helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Norwich. More details can be found on her UEA webpage: https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/jeannette-chin

Dr Farhana Liza

Dr Farhana Liza recently joined the AgriFoRwArdS community as Secondary Supervisor for Cohort 5 Student, Elliot Smith. Liza is a Lecturer in Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. She is also a Member of the Data Science and AI group, an Associate Member of the Cyber Intelligence and Networks group, and UEA lead contact for the national working group on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) project, a part of the Research Libraries UK sub group.

Liza received her PhD from the University of Kent, and prior to joining UEA, she worked as a researcher at ESRC Business and Local Government Data Research Centre at the University of Essex. Liza’s research mainly focuses on development of safe and secure artificial intelligence algorithms as well as applications in natural language processing and human-AI interactions.

Liza is working with Elliot on his PhD titled ‘Multi-Agent Task allocation for Heterogenous Salad Harvesting Teams’.

EDI Spotlight on... Privilege

What is privilege? When talking about EDI, people often feel that they can't be privileged because they have experienced particular hardships in their lives. Privilege, though, is about the benefits and advantages that may be held by certain groups because of the oppression or suppression of minoritised groups. Often privilege refers to the advantage you have because you don't have to think about certain issues, for example, as an able-bodied person you are privileged in that you don't need to consider whether the route from your bus stop to your office is accessible.

This short video explains the concept much better if you want to find out more.

If there are any EDI topics you would like us to cover in future newsletters, please let us know.

Student Experience Survey

Earlier this academic year, the AgriFoRwArdS CDT launched a short survey to understand students' experiences with EDI. The findings will inform future inclusion efforts, and the team plans to gather further anonymous feedback to address specific issues raised.

A total of 47 people part completed survey, with 14 completing it. Respondents represented all three partner universities and are currently at different stages of their student journey, 79% were men, 14% women, and 7% preferred not to say.

Student experiences

Experiences of the CDT were predominantly positive, with the majority of students agreeing that their course content encourages different perspectives; that activities offered by the CDT accommodate for different cultural backgrounds; and that activities are inclusive.

Most students felt a strong sense of belonging and equity, though nearly 1 in 10 disagreed about equal treatment, indicating room for improvement. Additionally, 95.5% felt supported by their supervisors. About two-thirds envision a long-term career in agricultural robotics, with 32% undecided.

EDI Training

Ninety percent of respondents said they had taken part in EDI training as part of the AgriFoRwArdS programme. Of these, 33% said they had found the training useful, 27% said it was somewhat useful and 40% said it wasn’t useful. Qualitative comments suggest that the negative feedback may be related to experiences of mandatory EDI training at students’ home institutions. However, the quantitative data did not distinguish between the different types of EDI-related training offered by the CDT, which is something we will consider in future iterations of the survey.

The survey also asked students to identify future EDI-related training needs with the top topics being:

• Inclusive research training (why and how to think about inclusion in your research)
• Inclusive leadership training
• Talks about career journeys/succeeding as a minoritised person or person from an under-represented group
• Agri-robotics talks from minoritised/under-represented scholars/experts
• One-page explainers of key EDI concepts

This year has seen us deliver inclusive leadership training, an event on career journeys and the introduction of short EDI explainers into the newsletter.

If you have further feedback on our EDI training provision or any aspect of the issues raised in the survey please contact the Agriforwards team at agriforwards.cdt@lincoln.ac.uk, or via your student representative.

EDI Lead looks into LGBTQ+ issues in STEM

STEM fields, historically dominated by white, heterosexual men, often foster a masculine, heteronormative culture that risks excluding LGBTQ+ scientists and engineers. AgriFoRwArdS EDI Lead, Prof Abigail Powell, conducted research to explore how LGBTQ+ individuals, especially those with intersecting marginalized identities (e.g., women, disabled, people of colour), face and navigate barriers to inclusion in the UK and USA. Using surveys and focus groups, it highlights challenges and supports to LGBTQ+ inclusion, aiming to inform better strategies for equity in STEM.

Read the full report here -https://www.rsc.org/getContentAsset/7bde8c91-1c38-4141-85dc-4579c1847d33/f4c91d86-ac3e-4675-bdf3-f8325ded9710/dsit-report-barriers-within-barriers.pdf?language=en

Introducting Agrii's Digital Technology Farm (DTF)

– Now Nearing the End of Year 2 –

Agrii’s Digital Technology Farm (DTF) is an ambitious, field-scale project working across a national network of farms designed to explore how connected digital tools can support smarter, more sustainable agronomic decision-making to enhance farm sustainability as a direct result of technology adoption.

Launched in autumn 2023, the DTF compares traditional farm practices with data-driven strategies using technologies such as Skippy Scout, in-situ nitrogen sensors, and disease prediction models to inform decision making. Our digital agronomy platform, Contour, plays a key role through access to remote sensing capabilities which is further supported by RHIZA, via detailed soil mapping, assessment and planning capabilities. All of which are used to leverage new capabilities from other technologies being tested in real world conditions.

The aim is to understand where and how innovative digital tools add the most value—whether by improving crop performance, reducing input costs, or supporting sustainability goals across a range of crops including; Wheat, Oilseed Rape, Potatoes and Apples.

For more information contact Jonathan Trotter, Technology Trials Manager at Agrii (Jonathan.Trotter@Agrii.co.uk).

Elevating Agriculture – Unlocking the Potential of Drones

In a landmark move for agri-tech, AutoSpray Systems - part of the SEAD Artists consortium - has secured the UK’s first permanent Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) approval for drone operations in an Atypical Air Environment. This removes major barriers to aerial applications such as spraying, seeding, crop analysis, and peatland restoration, enabling more efficient and scalable drone use on farms.

Join Agri-TechE online on 14 July, 1–2pm for Elevating Agriculture – Unlocking the Potential of Drones, exploring how this new regulatory framework paves the way for a more automated management of land and agriculture. Free for Agri-TechE members; £30 for non-members.

Ceres Agri-Tech Commercialisation webinars

Join us for this training series with industry experts with agri-tech focus to learn more about the commercialisation process.

Click the title for Eventbrite booking link: Contact info@ceresagritech.org for more info.

• Accelerators - 14th July 2025 12-1pm

Bridging Robotics and Conservation: L-CAS contributes to Research into Paths for Autonomous Biodiversity Monitoring

The Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS) is proud to announce that their researchers have contributed to new research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. The study, “Opportunities and challenges for monitoring terrestrial biodiversity in the robotics age“, represents a significant milestone in our mission to advance autonomous systems for real-world applications.

Read more - https://lcas.lincoln.ac.uk/wp/bridging-robotics-and-conservation-l-cas-contributes-to-research-into-paths-for-autonomous-biodiversity-monitoring/.

Lincoln Robotics and AI Days (RAIDS)

The University of Lincoln proudly hosted the 2025 Robotics and AI Days (RAIDs) – a dynamic week-long celebration of cutting-edge research, collaborative innovation, and interdisciplinary excellence. Running from Monday 9 June to Friday 13 June 2025, RAIDs brought together our leading researchers, students, industry partners, and the wider community to explore the transformative potential of robotics and artificial intelligence.

Led by the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS) in partnership with the Laboratory of Vision Engineering (LoVE) and the Machine Learning Research Group (mLearn), RAIDs showcased Lincoln’s research excellence in Robotics and AI whilst fostering new collaborations and funding opportunities.

Find out more about the different elements of the event here - https://lcas.lincoln.ac.uk/wp/events/lincoln-robotics-and-ai-days/.

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.