Slugiculture, a team from UC Santa Cruz advised by CITRIS researcher and Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Steve McGuire, was named a finalist in the 2026 Farm Robotics Challenge.
The Farm Robotics Challenge is an annual competition that brings together student teams from colleges across the nation to design solutions for pressing on-farm issues. Groups leverage robotic platforms with autonomous navigation, artificial intelligence, and specialized attachments to address an array of agricultural barriers from weeding to mapping to data collection.
Slugiculture created a cost-effective system for the early detection of crop damage or pest outbreaks. It uses AI, open-source software and drone-mounted units for mapping, analyzing, and informing small and mid-scale crop growers.