AgriFoRwArdS Newsletter Issue 20 - April 2025 Edition

Welcome to the 20th 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

January

• Prabuddhi Wariyapperuma, Emmanuel Soumo, Andy Perrett, and Omar Ali attend the Human Detection and Understanding Workshop with the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS). Omar and Prabuddhi both presented as part of the workshop.
• Elijah Almanzor co-authored a paper titled 'Versatile graceful degradation framework for bio-inspired proprioception with redundant soft sensors', which was published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI.
• Bethan Moncur attended and volunteered at Sustainable Foods London 2025, writing summaries and takeaways, for each session, for the organisers.
• Bradley Hurst co-authored a pre-print article titled 'Unsupervised Tomato Split Anomaly Detection using Hyperspectral Imaging and Variational Autoencoders'.
• Robert Stevenson presented his paper titled 'Open Source Hardware Whisker Sensor' at the Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems General Meeting. The paper was co-authored with a number of his fellow Cohort 5 students.
• Omar Ali demonstrated the Tiago Robot at robotics bake sale at the University of Lincoln.

February

• Xumin Gao attended and presented at BeetTech 2025.
• Kyle Fogarty co-authored a pre-print article titled 'Best Foot Forward: Robust Foot Reconstruction in-the-wild'.
• Robert Stevenson represented the CDT at the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society Agri-Food Careers Event.
• Kyle Fogarty and Jack Foster competed in the AI Engine: UK University Hackathon. They won 1st place for the "Future of Search" award, and the "Most Beneficial through Human Hours Saved” award by Google Anthropic, with their Agentic Search Analytics Platform.
• Robbie Cato represented the CDT at the Lincolnshire Robotics Conference.

March

• Robbie Cato attended the Robotics and Automation Exhibition 2025 (co-located with the 10th annual IntraLogisteX Exhibition and the Sustainable Supply Chain Exhibition). He also presented at the event, his presentation was titled 'Enhancing Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): Bridging the Gap Between Humans and Machines'.
• Will Rohde co-authored a paper titled 'Precision agriculture for iceberg lettuce: From spatial sensing to per plant decision making and control', which was published in Smart Agricultural Technology.
• Alex Elias presented at the 2025 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2025) in Melbourne, Australia. His paper titled 'Analyzing previous human-robot interaction implementation in agriculture: What can we learn from the past?' was published in the conference proceedings.
• Andy Perrett started work as a Research Assistant with Dr Leonardo Guevara.

Discover more exciting achievements below!

𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱

On behalf of the Cambridge Industrial Resilience Group, AgriFoRwArdS Student Garry Clawson is happy to announce their 3rd annual Cambridge Agri-Food Supply Chain Resilience Workshop 2025, taking place on Wednesday 28 May 2025 at the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge.

Here is what Garry had to say...

'This year we will explore food supply chain resilience within the context of shifting geopolitical landscapes and growing sustainability challenges. Through four key dimensions - Functionality, Availability, Affordability, and Accessibility - we will explore practical strategies for building adaptable, inclusive, and sustainable food supply chains.'

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

• Multi-stakeholder dialogue, shaping food system priorities ahead of COP30
• Insights from global experts representing multilateral institutions and key industry players
• Showcase of the Global Supply Chain Observatory (GSCO), leveraging data and technology for supply chain visibility, traceability, and transparency
• Roundtable discussions tackling food security, supply chain risks, and policy-driven transformations

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱?

Policymakers, food industry leaders, supply chain professionals, agri-tech innovators, SMEs, farmers, academics, PhD students, NGOs, and local councils—this is your opportunity to shape the future of global food resilience.

📍𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://engage-events.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/Agri-FoodSCWorkshop#/

Students reflect on the benefits of Industry collaboration

As part of the AgriFoRwArdS programme, each student is matched with one of our Industry Partners. This gives each student the opportunity to not only ground their research in a real-world challenge, but also build connections outside of academia.

Here is what our students have to say about this experience…

'I love working with my industry partner – it has been the highlight of my PhD journey so far. It is super exciting to visit food manufacturing sites and get a view of the intricacies of the food system up close. I think it is important to really root your research in real-world problems, so collaborating with an industry partner is an effective way of ensuring that research is on a useful topic that people in the food system will benefit from. I have been working closely with my industry partner to better understand their innovation processes, and work with them to collaboratively design a tool that they can implement. The most useful thing, aside from access to large amounts of data, is being able to learn from experts in the food industry about what a career in the food industry may look like.'

'The most important thing is that I get instructions from my industrial partner on how to collect my data…, it definitely guides me to think about how we should work towards next steps.'

'It has been useful for context for me… and I’m looking forward to doing a placement later this year.'

'Collaborating has been invaluable for my PhD research, ensuring that my work has practical, real-world applications. This partnership allows me to bridge theoretical advancements with industry challenges, making my research more impactful. Additionally, engaging with industry professionals has broadened my perspective beyond academia, helping me develop essential technical and collaborative skills for future research and career opportunities.'

'Industrial partners are a link to the real world when doing a PhD. Research can take you down many avenues of exciting thought, and then an industrial partner tells you how they work and what data they have. This is where you discover the gap between your thoughts on a subject and the role that your research should play. Bridging that gap makes science and your research beneficial to the world.'

'Collaborating with an industry partner enriches my research by ensuring my work addresses real-world challenges. This partnership offers first-hand exposure to automation issues faced in day-to-day operations, enabling me to tailor my research for greater impact. Moreover, it enhances my communication skills, as I learn to present my research in ways that resonate with non-academic stakeholders, ultimately making the research more accessible and relevant beyond academia.'

2024/25 Events & Activities

The AgriFoRwArdS CDT provides an exciting and varied calendar of events for our students. Below is a snapshot of just some of the activities being arranged for the 2024/25 academic year.

• CDT Annual Conference (15th & 16th May) - Students and staff will come together for this exciting conference, hosted online by the University of Cambridge. See below for more information.
• CDT Summer School (16th to 20th June) - Students will attend the annual week-long residential summer school, this year hosted by the University of Lincoln. See below for more information.
• AgriFoRwArdS Seminar Day (July - date TBC) - The second of this year's Seminar Days will be held at one of our Industry Partner sites and will be packed full of interesting talks and activities.
• Joint Robotics CDT Annual Conference (2nd to 4th September) - Students are invited to join the other UK Robotics CDT Students at the University of Oxford for this annual get together, to share research and network.

We want to make sure the training and events we are offering are geared towards our students' interests. So students, if you have any suggestions for visits or training that you would like us to consider in 2024/25, please get in touch!

2025 AgriFoRwArdS Conference

Welcome to the Agri-Food Robotics Online Conference, 15-16 May 2025: “Global food challenges and real-life robotic applications”

We would like to invite members of the CDT community and other robotics researchers and industry to take part in the AgriFoRwArdS Annual CDT Conference, that this year is being organised and run by the AgriFoRwArdS Cambridge team. The aim of this year's conference is to understand the way in which robotics, and other modern technologies, can help humankind to address global food challenges, which are becoming fundamental to the planet’s existence.

By exploring research topics related to the Agri-Food industry via presentations and panel discussions, we aim to address problems arising from global food challenges, and highlight the importance of developing modern technologies which may help us to illuminate challenges in the future.

Invited speakers include:

• Henry Medeiros - University of Florida, USA
• Matthew Howard - King’s College London, UK
• Hiroki Mori - Co-founder of Tokuiten, Japan
• Juan Bravo - Founder and CEO of Agrobot, Spain/USA
• Josie Hughes - EPFL, Switzerland
• Letizia Mortara - Institute of Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, UK
• Martin Fodstad Stølen - Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
• Louise Sutherland - LINCAM/CERES, Cambridge Enterprise, UK
• Elizabeth Sklar - University of Lincoln, UK
• Mario Caccamo - NIAB, UK
• Stavros Vougioukas - UC Davis, California USA
• Tyson Lee Swetnam - University of Arizona, USA

You can view the full conference programme here.

Robotics students and academics alike are also invited to present their research during one of the two break-out sessions. If you would like to make the most of this great opportunity to share your research, please complete the relevant section of the registration form linked below.

AgriFoRwArdS Summer School 2025

In June 2025, the University of Lincoln AgriFoRwArdS Team will be welcoming the AgriFoRwArdS students to Riseholme, for the annual week-long Summer School. The Summer School provides students with an opportunity to work together on a single activity, with groups of students focussing on particular topics, each contributing to the project’s objectives.

This year’s Summer School, is entitled ‘ Going to the Dogs’.

AgriFoRwArdS alumni, as well as current students, are contributing to the creation and planning of the event. In late 2024, alongside these students, Rob Lloyd (AgriFoRwArdS Mechatronics Engineer) and other University of Lincoln staff were able to perform An Exploratory Study on the Use of Robot Dogs in Shepherding (3min). For this year's AgriFoRwArdS Summer School, the students will be testing whether two robot dogs and a drone can work together to round up sheep—without causing chaos. With a mix of AI, robot dogs (plural?!), drone tech and long-range communications, students will be putting modern robotics to the test in a dynamic real-world setting. Participants can expect challenges, problem-solving, and a lot of fun as they explore the future of robotic teamwork!

Beyond the summer school, there will be opportunities for those interested to contribute further, with the potential to be involved in publishing research papers.

Progress meeting and hands on robotics training

In early March AgriFoRwArdS students travelled to Lincoln to attend the Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting. We heard from Cohort 3 Students Emlyn Williams, Kyle Fogarty, and Paul-David Zuercher, who all updated on the progress of their PhDs as they move towards the end of their final year.

The next day, students were invited to a hands on robotics workshop, which was run by Dr Rob Lloyd, the CDT’s Mechatronics Engineer. Students were given Trilobots , LIMO robots and other systems to 'have a go' with.

The day was all about experimentation, problem-solving, and learning by doing. It wasn’t just about the technical skills; it was also about the collaborative learning experience.

'It was good to have some time to work on something without the pressure of a deadline.'

Read more about this successful workshop on the AgriFoRwArdS website.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Agri-Tech Innovators at the Lincolnshire Showground

In February, AgriFoRwArdS Student Robert Stevenson and AgriFoRwArdS Mechatronics Engineer Dr Rob Lloyd, wowed school students at the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society’s Agricultural Careers Event.

They showcased some of the core technologies and techniques used within Agri-Tech, and demonstrated ongoing research, to aid in inspire the next generation of agricultural innovators.

Robert said he found the event a privilege to be a part of, and it was very rewarding being able to connect with so many bright young minds and share his passion for Agri-Tech.

'The students were genuinely curious, asking insightful questions about technology, the career paths available in Agri-Tech, and the future of farming. It was incredibly rewarding to witness their enthusiasm and see the genuine interest in their eyes at how these technologies work, and only illustrated further why events like these are crucial for bridging the gap between education and industry, showing young people the exciting possibilities that exist within agriculture.'

Read more about Robert's experience of the event on the AgriFoRwArdS Website.

AgriFoRwArdS @ The Lincolnshire Farming Conference 2025

The Lincolnshire Farming Conference 2025 took place on the 13th February at the Lincolnshire Showground, this year the focus was on inspiring the next generation. AgriFoRwArdS were one of the exhibitors at the event, attending the event to highlight the amazing work taking place to revolutionise farming in Lincolnshire and beyond.

CDT Student, Robbie Cato, represented AgriFoRwArdS at the event, highlighting to delegates the role robotics and automated systems could have in the future of farming.

Here is what Robbie had to say about the experience:

“I had a great time representing AgriFoRwArdS at the recent Lincolnshire Farming Conference. I got some really insightful conversations with local farmers about the future of agriculture and the role of technology in addressing industry challenges. What’s amazing is the diversity in age range of those farmers interested in new technology. I think older generations of farmers are typically known for being adverse to new technology but in my experience that simply isn’t true. It was a most enjoyable and informative day all round”

Dr Cheng Wang

Dr Cheng Wang has recently joined the AgriFoRwArdS community as Primary Supervisor for Cohort 4 Student, Andrew Simpson. Cheng is an Assistant Professor within the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He is also Deputy Senior Adviser for the School, and serves as Ethics reviewer for the Faculty of Science

Cheng received his PhD in Computer Science from KAUST in 2023. Prior to that, he got a Bachelor degree in Automation from Tsinghua University. Cheng’s research mainly focuses on Computer Graphics, Geometry Processing, Computational Design and Fabrication. He has expertise in geometric computing for 3D mesh representations. He is also interested in the interdisciplinary areas of graphics, vision, learning representations, and bioinformatics. He has published in ACM SIGGRAPH, ACM Transactions on Graphics, and Computer-Aided Design.

Cheng is working with Andrew on his PhD titled ‘Designing Scalable Robotic Systems for Next-Generation Agriculture: A Technological Perspective’.

Dr YingLiang Ma

Dr YingLiang Ma has recently joined the AgriFoRwArdS community as Primary Supervisor for Cohort 4 Student, Calvin John. Dr Ma is an Associate Professor within the School of Computing Sciences at the University of East Anglia. He is also Director of Innovation for the School, and Head of the Vision Computing Research Group.

YingLiang received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Manchester, and is the president of the special interest group, Cardiac-SIG, in MICCAI. YingLiang’s research mainly focuses on development of novel computer vision and computational geometric algorithms as well as applications in medical image analysis, image-guided surgery and robot navigation. He is also a member of the European Society of Cardiology, including the Working Group: e-Cardiology.

YingLiang is working with Calvin on his PhD titled ‘A GNSS/RTK Localization-based Agri-Robot Digital Twin for Precision Agri-tasks in Crop Fields'.

AgriFoRwArdS celebrate International Women’s Day 2025 with Roopika Ravikanna

Roopika Ravikanna was one of the very first students to join AgriFoRwArdS, and she has now reached the next milestone in her PhD journey, having just submitted her PhD thesis!

As part of our celebration of the fabulous women in our community, we asked Roopika to tell us all about her inspiring PhD research, which she does in the below video. Roopika’s research focuses on how human-robot collaboration can improve labour shortages, increase productivity, and create more sustainable agricultural practices. Roopika used field observation data, and behavioural modelling, to make robotic systems more efficient and helpful to humans.

Thank you to Primary Supervisor Prof Marc Hanheide and Industrial Partner Saga Robotics for bringing their expertise to this project, and thank you to Roopika for sharing her inspiration and drive for this research.

Roopika also wanted to share with us some of her experiences as a woman working in the sciences, hoping to inspire other women to make the leap into what can be such rewarding and interesting subjects.

Roopika has also been involved in celebrating previous International Women’s Days, most notably when she joined with fellow Cohort 1 student Karoline Heiwolt to discuss their thought on women within STEM subjects. You can read the full discussion here.

Agri-Tech Commercialisation Training Series

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

• CE Marking - What does it mean?, 28th April 2025, 12-1pm: Agri-tech Commercialisation Training Series: CE Marking, what does it mean? Tickets, Mon, Apr 28, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite
• Commercialisation and fundraising, 29th April 2025, 12-1pm: Agri-tech Commercialisation Training Series: Commercialisation & Fundraising Tickets, Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite
• Licensing your technology, 7th May 2025, 1-2pm: Agri-tech Commercialisation Training Series: Licensing your Technology Tickets, Wed, May 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM | Eventbrite
• Company formation, 12th May 2025, 12-1pm: Agri-tech Commercialisation Training Series: Company Formation Tickets, Mon, May 12, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite
• Spin-out Journey, 19th May 2025, 12-1pm: Agri-tech Commercialisation Training Series: Spin Out Journey Tickets, Mon, May 19, 2025 at 12:00 PM | Eventbrite

Agri-Robotics Regulatory Network (ARRNet)

The UK Agri-Tech Centre, in collaboration with the University of Lincoln, Harper Adams University and the Manufacturing Technology Centre, is pleased to announce the launch of the Agri-Robotics Regulatory Network (ARRNet).

With 12 months of government grant funding, the project aims to lower the regulatory barriers to the commercialisation and widespread adoption of robotics and automated systems in agriculture.

The regulatory landscape governing agri-robotics is currently fragmented and complex, posing barriers to adoption, investment and scaling.

With the support of industry, ARRNet will engage with regulators and policymakers to address the specific needs of agricultural robotics, providing evidence for progressive regulation, developing industry standards and demonstrating regulatory compliance through testing and training.

Conference for Early-Careers: Innovating from seed to field, through space

Agri-TechE Conference for early-careers: Innovating from seed to field, through space

30th April, 11:45 – 16:00, University of Reading

Agriculture faces endless challenges. But there are also endless solutions out there! At this year’s Early-Career Innovators Forum (ECIF) Conference, we will be taking all Early-Career individuals on a journey through time, land and space to discover what some of those innovative solutions are and how they are making a difference in the sector.

Explore how innovation grows from being an idea to an actual product or service, and how they are made accessible to end-users. Be inspired by speakers who will share how they are innovating to tackle agriculture’s most pressing issues. Speakers include:

• Janet Montgomery, Product Manager at Barenbrug
• Julian Ellis-Brown, CEO at Ponda
• Rosaria Campilongo, CEO at PfBIO

Come along to network with early-career fellows from other areas of agriculture and horticulture and take the opportunity to explore the Controlled Environment Facilities (CEL) at the Reading University.

Conference fee: £12. Book your ticket on Agri-TechE’s website - https://www.agri-tech-e.co.uk/civicrm/event/info/?reset=1&id=27295

Advancing Agri-Robotics – And Bringing Home the Gold

The University of Lincoln’s Lincoln Agri Robotics (LAR) team, including AgriFoRwArdS CDT Director Marc Hanheide, attended the AI & Robotics Research Awards in London this month.

Marc was joined by AgriFoRwArdS Co-Investigator Simon Pearson, AgriFoRwArdS Primary Supervisors Elizabeth Sklar, Simon Parsons and Riccardo Polvara, and PDRA Rajitha de Silva.

The AI & Robotics Research Awards, sponsored by the UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Hub, celebrate the extraordinary achievements of researchers, leaders and collaborators driving innovation in trustworthy autonomous systems. The awards honour ground-breaking research, impactful industry partnerships, inspiring leadership, and meaningful contributions to the community.

The team brought home the gold, being awarded First Place for Best Research Project for Impact!

The award recognises the LAR’s contributions to agri-robotics. The University of Lincoln are developing cutting-edge autonomous systems to enhance precision agriculture. From intelligent navigation to real-time decision-making, the work is shaping the future of sustainable farming—making robotics not just a tool, but a trusted partner in agriculture.

Congratulations to all involved! This award is a step forward in building smarter, more reliable robotics for the future of farming.

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀: ICIP 2025 Workshop on Computer Vision for Ecological and Biodiversity Monitoring (𝗖𝗩-𝗘𝗕𝗠)

Motivated by the global environmental crisis, our workshop, led by James Brown, contributes to the understanding of anthropological impact on the environment, and environmental responses to intervention, bringing together leading experts from both the computer vision and ecological research communities.

Our full-day workshop, featuring two keynote speakers and paper submissions, will be hosted at the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing in 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲, 𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗸𝘀𝗮 between 𝟭𝟰-𝟭𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱.

Accepted papers, undergoing the standard review process, will be included in the 𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗣 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗜𝗘𝗘𝗘 𝗫𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲.

The paper submission deadline for our workshop is 𝟮𝟴𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, please see the CV-EBM website for further details and where to submit: https://cvebm.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk/.

Research Labs

There are a number of research centres, labs, and groups associated with the AgriFoRwArdS CDT. Make sure to follow them on social media to keep up to date with the latest news!

• Lincoln Centre for Autonomous Systems (L-CAS)
• Bio-Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL)
• Computational Biology Lab
• Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT)
• Colour and Imaging Lab
• Observatory for Human Machine Collaboration (OHMC)

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.