The MINDS-i self-driving tractor is a miniature autonomous tractor that students build, program, and run outdoors in a realistic farm setting. Students will explore Arduino coding, electro-mechanical systems, and autonomous GPS navigation while also learning how to program their tractor for ground-based crop evaluation, spraying, spreading, crop monitoring, and other agriculture-related challenges.
This is an all-in-one kit that teaches components of mechanical systems, computer science skills, and agri-tech. The curriculum leads groups of students to collaboratively build their tractor from the ground up, then use open source C++, Python or ROS compatible programming to prep their tractor to work in a real outdoor farm setting on campus.
This lab includes 45 hours of curriculum and exercises and is designed for 2-4 students per tractor.
The curriculum includes lessons around:
The kit includes everything a group needs to build the tractor (250 piece construction set), along with the RC transmitter and receiver, accessories, digital multimeter, batteries, chargers and storage bins. The tractor body comes in a number of colors to correspond with your favorite agri-tech brand (red, green, blue, orange).
Optional accessories enable students to perform live farming practices like seeding, watering, harvesting and more.
The MINDS-i lab comes with 45 hours of curriculum, instructor resources, student resources and more. Click the button below to learn more about the tractor lab and curriculum components.
