Meeting Notes - Untether AI - January 10th, 2025
*SAVE THE DATE* - In-person Working Group Meeting March 7th at the London Farm Show
New Members:
Josh Cowan – Grain Farmers of Ontario
Chris Bunio – TheoryMesh
Tom Schnekenburger – University of Windsor
Kevin Cormack – FarmEvo
Ryan Gale – CropAxis Inc.
Chevonne Dayboll - OMAFA
New members, please be prepared to briefly introduce yourselves and touch on why you joined the group.
Presentations:
Speaker: Dan Ganousis
Company: Untether AI
Subject: AgBox Working Group – Optimizing AI for the AgTech Industry
Conferences/Meetings/Field Tours/Demonstrations
· Grand River Agricultural Society Spark V4 Symposium – April 15, 2025. https://gras.blitzen.com/form/SPARK-V4?_kx=gv4KhsjF7Taf829EsAP_FBSQc6SwAbP_wM0LpF8ox-PLjhd-etCIX4l20HUQLINo.UUrNv6 Applications Close January 10, 2025
· Midwest Ag Conference – Waterloo, ON – January 17th, 2025. https://ontarioagconference.ca/mwac/
· Waterloo RoboHub Winter Symposium – Waterloo, ON – January 17th, 2025. https://uwaterloo.ca/robohub/events/waterloo-robohub-winter-symposium
· Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention – Niagara Falls, ON - February 19-20, 2025. https://www.ofvc.ca/
· London Farm Show – London, ON – March 5-7, 2025. https://www.londonfarmshow.com/
· Ottawa Valley Farm Show – Ottawa, ON – March 11-13, 2025. https://ottawafarmshow.com/
· AgRobotics Working Group Demo Day – Bradford Research Station – July 8, 2025. Registration details to come
· AgRobotics Working Group Demo Day – Simcoe Research Station – July 22, 2025. Registration details to come
Attendees at recent conferences, please be prepared to provide a brief update to the group.
Project Updates
· Call for speakers/presentations – If you are interested in giving a presentation or have a recommendation of someone who you think would be a valuable speaker, please email Dan or Bridget.
· We will be preparing a survey to request permission to share member contact info (if asked)
· Our testing and assistance applications are now live: https://www.agroboticswg.com/contact-us
Action Items From Previous Meeting(s)
· A greenhouse focused sub-committee, with a goal of future greenhouse research opportunity would be of interest to a few different group members – interested group members please send their information to Bridget/Dan
· Creation of a Linkedin Group for the AgRobotics Working group
· Dan is looking for speaker connections, please contact him if you have someone you recommend
· ARWG to meet with Apple Growers in Jan regarding research for this coming season
Job Board
If you know of any job opportunities, please send the information to us so that we can add them on our website at the below link.
https://www.agroboticswg.com/job-board
Funding Announcements/Opportunities –
Canada Business App https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/ised/en/canada-business-app
Canadian Agricultural Strategic Priorities Program https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/canadian-agricultural-strategic-priorities - Open until March 2029
COLLABORATE 2 COMMERCIALIZE https://www.oc-innovation.ca/programs/collaborate-2-commercialize/ - Ongoing
Emergent Horticulture Opportunities Fund – https://www.vinelandresearch.com/work-with-us/emergent-horticulture-opportunities-fund/ - Open until February 2025
Agri-Innovate - AgriInnovate Program: Step 1. What this program offers - agriculture.canada.ca - Open until March 2028
OMAFRA/SCAP Funding Announcement and Program Details Link - Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership | ontario.ca - Open until March 2028
The Grow Ontario Accelerator Hub : Bioenterprise - Round 2 Intake opening Spring 2025
OCI Critical Industrial Technologies Initiative - https://www.oc-innovation.ca/programs/cit/ - Ongoing
CAAIN Open Competition - https://caain.ca/funding-calls/2024-open-competition/ - Open Intake
· Ontario Agri-Food research Initiative – Deadline December 4 for commercialization, January 13 for all other streams https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-agri-food-research-initiative?utm_campaign=%2Fen%2Frelease%2F1005018%2Fgovernments-investing-in-innovation-to-strengthen-ontarios-agri-food-sector&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsroom&utm_term=ops
· Agriculture Clean Technology Program Research and Innovation Stream - https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/programs/accelerator - Deadline January 10, 2025
Round Table
Other Items/Articles
This Robot Could Find Nitrate Hot Spots by Crawling Through Tile Drainage
Ecorobotix Expands U.S. Operations with Growing Team, New Location, and Nationwide Reach
Our mission is to have a bold solution in every greenhouse in North America
Robot Farms: Bringing Smart Tech to More Farm Fields in the Future
Fermata Closes $10M Series A Funding to Build the Brain of Ag
Kubota Integrates Autonomy, Robotics
Australia: Stacked Farms gets new $150M automated vegetable patch
Hesai Unveils Mini Hyper-Hemispherical 3D Lidar Series for Robotics at CES
The Future of Solar-Powered Agriculture: Trends and Innovations to Watch
Meeting recordings will be posted to our website approximately 4 weeks later. https://www.agroboticswg.com/meetings