Nexus Robotics, the Halifax-based startup that is building a robot that can identify and remove weeds, has won $30,000 at an agriculture tech challenge in Rockville, Indiana.

The third annual agBOT challenge took place May 17 to 19.  Nexus was a come-from-away win and took home first place in the Weed and Feed Competition, beating out teams from Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Nexus is made up of a team of young developers led by Thomas Trappenberg, a professor with Dalhousie Faculty of Computer Science. In an email, Trappenberg said the team will use the winnings to improve the drive functions of the robot so it can be tested over the summer. 

"We learned a lot from this competition, not only what we can improve, but also that we can be very competitive," said Trappenberg, adding that it is not only the technology that keeps the team going. "There are real problems in agriculture such as herbicide resistance, labour shortage, and a changing climate that require new solutions," he said. "I think it is cool to see that a team from Nova Scotia can be at the forefront of new ideas."

Drawing Youth to Farms With Robots

So far, the team has received around $150,000 in funding from Innovacorp through its Spark Innovation Challenge and Cleantech accelerator, and the National Research Council.

The team has built the bare bones prototype but the prototype needs developing, specifically its software.The colleagues will use the summer to design and tweak the visual recognition software so the machine can properly identify weeds.

The agBOT competition was hosted by Gerrish Farms and an Indiana agricultural communications solutions company called, airBridge.

The judging panel included the CEO of Blue River Technology, an ag-tech company that was acquired by John Deere in 2017, and a seasoned farmer with over 45 years experience.