Our university 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.

The Field Robot Event is a fantastic platform for showcasing innovation in agricultural robotics, with challenging tasks such as crop row navigation, fruit and mushroom detection, and a freestyle challenge.

Our team, composed of Postdoc Researchers, PhD, MSc, and BSc Robotics students, some from our AgriFoRwArdS and SUSTAIN CDT programs. The team used LCAS research in crop row navigation and fruit detection and a Rover Zero3 robot equipped with an array of sensors. Five of our team members made the journey to Milan: Jonathan Cox, Villanelle O’Reilly, Elliot Smith, Amy-Rose Masic, and Yasmin Alderson. They were supported by a remote team back at the university, including Rajitha De Silva, Emmanuel Soumo, Robert Stevenson, Ahmed Elbary, and Md Umar Ibrahim.

However, our journey wasn’t without its hurdles. Unfortunately, our robot’s shipment was delayed, meaning it didn’t arrive until the afternoon of the second day of the competition. This setback meant we were unable to compete in the first two tasks. We remained undeterred, though, and set our sights on the third task. Despite setup and testing, the hot weather seemed to take its toll on our robot, and it couldn’t complete the task. Instead of letting this dampen our spirits, we channelled our energy into the freestyle task.

Inspired by ongoing research within the university, Amy and Yasmin brilliantly integrated a gesture detection system to control our robot. This solution allowed them to demonstrate the robot’s capabilities to the crowd and judges, successfully scoring valuable points.

As first-time attendees, we are incredibly proud of the team. Scoring points in such a competitive environment is a great achievement, and the knowledge gained from observing other teams, understanding the tasks, and fostering connections with fellow participants and organisers has been invaluable. 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.

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