AI, Robotics in Ag Offer Promises and Challenges

The growing use of artificial intelligence and robotics presents both opportunities and challenges in agriculture, experts said during a panel discussion on the Cal Poly Pomona campus.

“Emerging Technologies in Food and Agriculture” was theme for the Feb. 22 event, which was co-sponsored by the Huntley College of Agriculture and the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce’s Southern California Chapter.

The panel discussion was held at AGRIscapes and livestreamed, with participants from Europe.

The panelists included:

• Professor Subodh Bhandari, chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona, whose research includes autonomous operation and collaboration between aerial and ground vehicles and remote sensing for precision agriculture;
• Helene Iven, a graduate of ETH Zurich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), and co-founder of Digit Soil AG, which produces farm diagnostic equipment and provides soil monitoring and analytical services to improve farm efficiency, yields and sustainability;
• Professor Amar Raheja, associated chair of the Department of Computer Science at Cal Poly Pomona, whose research interests include image processing, computer vision, machine learning, multidimensional data analysis and visualization, and applied AI;
• Vahid Hosseini, a bioengineering and mechanobiology graduate of ETH Zurich and founder of Hatchless Inc., a biotech startup that uses AI and robotics for large-scale production of cell-cultivated poultry meat;
• Assistant Professor Eshwar Ravishankar of the Department of Plant Science at Cal Poly Pomona, whose interests include controlled environment and precision agriculture and sustainable energy integration for food production.

Associate Dean Peter Kilduff served as a moderator for the panel discussion, which can be seen here: 

It’s the second consecutive year that the Huntley College and the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce have partnered to put on the event.

In 2023, the panel discussion centered around the challenges that food and agricultural systems are experiencing globally, including climate change, increasing labor costs and regulations, and impacts to wildlife and sustainability.

The “Agri & Food Tech Opportunity Meet Ups” are the brainchild of Markus Bohi (’85, operations management), a business consultant and the chamber’s executive vice president for market strategy in agritech and food.

The idea was to create a dialogue between researchers and industry leaders in Switzerland and Southern California.