{"id":12304,"date":"2024-10-02T13:48:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T13:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golive.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/02\/this-is-the-discovery-process-in-its-purest-form\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T19:10:37","slug":"this-is-the-discovery-process-in-its-purest-form","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/02\/this-is-the-discovery-process-in-its-purest-form\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This is the discovery process in its purest form\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Adrian Ramirez \u201925, and Richard Geli, M.A. \u201925, work in Clark’s robotics lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Clark\u2019s robotics lab, students build problem-solving bots<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers have acres of fields to look after, and it can be hard to spot an insect infestation before crops endure significant damage. What if a robot could help?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe spent a lot of time testing possible issues, configuring the software, and learning how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n-Adrian Ramirez \u201925<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a question computer science Professor Gary Holness<\/a> and students are tackling in Clark\u2019s robotics lab, the Laboratory for Intelligent Perceptual Systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the summer, Holness, Adrian Ramirez \u201925, and Richard Geli, M.A. \u201925, worked on an experimental prototype consisting of a team of four mobile robots networked together to model collaborative foraging in fields scanning for pests.   Spending countless hours designing and building the system from scratch in the lab in Clark\u2019s Center for Media Arts, Computing, and Design, Holness is building an experimental prototype in which to expand upon the research and test out various ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holness is interested in owning a farm someday, inspired by his parents, who grew up on farms in an agricultural community.  He\u2019s also drawn to this project because farms provide an interesting setting for machine learning, his area of expertise.    \u201cA robot operates quite successfully in a structured environment like a factory floor or even semi-structured environments such as a warehouse where much is controlled but some aspects involve uncertainty.  Structure means that everything is engineered specifically,\u201d says Holness. A farm does not provide strict structure, as terrain varies, crops occur in various shapes and sizes growing at different paces, and it abounds in the activity of laborers, equipment, and animals.  \u201cA field is unstructured, so it’s a challenging environment,\u201d he adds. \u201cThere are a lot of pressing needs specifically for digital farm management.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The robots will focus on surveying fields using an information-driven probabilistic algorithm, video cameras, specialized sensors, and laser scanning to identify areas exhibiting indicators of crop damage within the local environment. This mechanism could help farmers locate and map areas with pest infestations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"two
Adrian Ramirez \u201925, and Richard Geli, M.A. \u201925, work in Clark’s robotics lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"student
Adrian Ramirez \u201925 and computer science Professor Gary Holness work in Clark’s robotics lab.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ramirez and Geli had to configure, implement, and modify several aspects of the physical robot platforms, compute infrastructure,  as well as all of the underlying software.  \u201cIt’s actually a lot harder than it seems,\u201d says Ramirez, an economics<\/a> and data science<\/a> major. \u201cWe spent a lot of time testing possible issues, configuring the software, and learning how it works. It\u2019s a great feeling to know that you can understand how to control something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n