I came to the University of Bonn as part of my sabbatical to be part of the PhenoRob group and to learn more about the research that’s going on here. During my stay I could strengthen some ongoing collaborations, coming together with other researchers and sharing ideas. I’m looking forward to further engage with the researchers from PhenoRob, building up on the connections I strengthened during my sabbatical.

Scientists in DigiCrop.Net collaborate in several EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, two of them are INVITE and InnoVar. The aim of the INVITE project is to improve both efficiency of variety testing and the information available to stakeholders on variety performance under a range of production conditions and biotic and abiotic stresses. InnoVar, Next Generation Variety Testing for Improved Cultivation on European Farmland, aims to increase and improve the effectiveness and accuracy of European variety testing and decision-making through an integrated approach that includes genomics, phenomics and machine learning. Historical data will form the basis of the InnoVar database, which will be expanded with new and harmonized data from a Europe-wide series of trials.

During my stay at ETH Zurich I experienced a creativity and productivity boost. Certainly because of the lab-expertise, but also because of the social dynamic of joining a new group in a new place. Apart from extending my professional network, I enjoyed living in Zurich because of its proximity to the alps. Curiosity for the unfamiliar is what got me into science, and knowing new places and people reminded me of this purpose.

We develop a shared understanding of the latest advances in the modeling frameworks that are being applied to analyze the economic incentives for adoption of digital and AI technologies from farm to landscape level.

The PhenoRob International Exchange Program enabled a research visit at ETH, Zurich. It was a great opportunity to strengthen international collaboration and build new ones. ETH is a leading institution for research on novel agriculture technologies with many connections to PhenoRob activities. Staying with the ETH agricultural economics and policy group was not only productive but also fun!

The PhenoBench dataset aims to provide high quality labeled data for vision-based learning tasks in the context of crop production. This freely available dataset and associated benchmarks on various visual perception tasks provides an excellent basis for future collaboration within DigiCrop.Net. For more information, head over to https://www.phenobench.org/

I joined Prof. Amy Marshall-Colon lab as a part of the PhenoRob international exchange program and Bayer foundation fellowship. During my stay there in collaboration with Amy’s group I had a great opportunity to develop cutting edge methods in analyzing transcriptome data to identify genes driving changing in root architecture in response to various perturbations. This exchange program not only facilitated the strengthening of existing collaborations between the University of Illinois and the PhenoRob Cluster of Excellence but also provided me with a unique cross-disciplinary training experience.

Crop monitoring is an essential task in the agricultural domain. An exciting topic is the use of robotic arms to perform this task for crop monitoring. The intuitive solution is to use physical interaction using tactile models to ensure the safety of plants during autonomous crop monitoring. In DigiCrop.Net I collaborate with researchers in finding solutions for this task.

The Phenorob International Exchange Program offered me the opportunity for a research stay at ETH, Zurich. It was a great opportunity to collaborate with experts in their respective fields and building a network for future projects. We used X-ray μ-CT-imaging to visualize the distribution of air in the pore space and quantified gas phase connectivity of a soil-mucilage mixture. Having the chance to use top-notch scientific equipment helped me improve my research and develop my research skills. The Phenorob International Exchange Program is a great chance for early career scientists to go abroad and gather new experiences.

Digiforest is a 3.5 year Horizon Europe project developing innovative robotics and analytics technology to enable sustainable forestry. It brings together partners working on aerial robots, walking robots, autonomous (lightweight) harvesters as well as forestry decision makers and commercial companies to create a full data pipeline to digitize the state of forests (at scale) and to collect maps and inventories which can be used by foresters in more precise, sustainable and modern ways. Within DigiCrop.Net, researchers from ETH Zürich and PhenoRob are involved in this EU-funded project.

EMPHASIS will enable researchers to use facilities, resources and services for plant phenotyping across Europe.  By addressing the technological and organisational limitations of European plant phenotyping, EMPHASIS aims to promote future food security and agricultural business in a changing climate. Scientists from DigiCrop.Net collaborate within EMPHASIS to better understand plant performance and translate this knowledge into application.

I enjoyed my research stay at ETH Zurich very much and was able to learn a lot of new things thanks to the nice colleagues. I worked on the calculation of the poses of the Field Phenotyping Platform in the context of the system calibration of the sensor system which is equipped with inertial sensor technology (IMU), two GPS antennas and 13 cameras. The task of the system is the calculation of phenotypic traits like biomass and leaf area. The field contains varieties of wheat, soybean, buckwheat and pea.
I also helped the team during the wheat harvest, where important information regarding yield and biomass was collected.

With Pheno4D, we provide an open multi-temporal dataset of high resolution labelled 3D point clouds, containing several maize and tomato plants scanned over several days. This entire dataset can be downloaded and used freely. We’re happy  to share this within DigiCrop.Net and are excited about possible collaborations.

The PhenoRob International Exchange Program enabled me to visit Wageningen University for a research stay. I am deeply appreciative of this opportunity, which facilitated collaboration with experts from horticultural science, geoinformation science, agricultural economics, and plant pathology, on a collaborative interdisciplinary research endeavor. Besides meeting many interesting people, and the opportunity to learn new methods, I found it very inspiring to gain insight into the organizational structures and academic cultures within another university’s research groups.