IN partnership with the Central Luzon State University (CLSU), the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has rolled out a series of introductory training sessions on agri-robotics for young learners.
The activity was part of the project titled "Agri-robotics Education for Young Learners" jointly implemented by SEARCA through its Emerging for Growth Department and CLSU's Precision and Digital Agriculture Center (PreDiCt).
For the months of February, March and April this year, the training sessions engaged selected students from Grades 5 and 6, and junior and senior high school levels. Participants came from the School Division Offices of Muñoz in February and San Jose in March, as well as from the CLSU Science High School and CLSU Laboratory for Teaching and Learning-Agricultural Science and Technology School for the final leg last April.
According to SEARCA, the training series introduced students to the integration of agriculture and robotics through structured learning sessions and hands-on activities with faculty members from the participating schools serving as training instructors.
It said the teachers delivered lectures on agricultural operations and machines, agricultural robotics and components, basic programming, and motors, sensors, and signal processing for agricultural robotics.
SEARCA said the teachers had previously completed a training course for trainers led by SEARCA and CLSU's experts to build their capacity to teach agri-robotics effectively.
Also in these training sessions, learners participated in various hands-on activities that demonstrated real-world agricultural applications of robotics to reinforce the technical concepts.
The student participants were challenged to build and program a robot to autonomously follow a line, mimicking the monitoring of crops planted in rows.
They were also tasked to design a robot with claws that are capable of automatic color sorting to simulate a fruit grading process by distinguishing between green (ripe) and red (unripe) cubes using sensors and coded instructions, and automating picking and segregation of the harvest.
SEARCA said the training sessions are part of its agri-robotics project "to transform how students perceive agriculture — shifting from traditional practices to more modern, technology-driven methods that apply cutting-edge tools such as robotics and artificial intelligence."