Participation

The challenge is intended for students attending 2-year or 4-year colleges and universities, as well as trade or technical schools.

Graduate students can participate, but the composition of graduate students must not exceed 50% of the team total.

A team advisor can be a faculty member, graduate student, or school staff member.

Yes, teams may be formed with students from more than one institution, subject to the following limitations:

Lead Institution:
One university or college must be designated as the lead institution. This institution will serve as the primary point of contact and will be responsible for registering the team, submitting deliverables, and managing overall coordination. Should the team win an award, the award (cash prize/travel stipends) will be directed to the lead institution.

Number of Partner Institutions:
The lead institution may collaborate with up to two additional institutions. This means a team can include students from a maximum of three institutions in total (the lead plus two partners).

Types of Institutions:
While there is flexibility in the types of institutions that can partner, a common arrangement might be:

• A 4-year university partnering with a 2-year community college, or

• Two or three 4-year universities/colleges with existing research or academic partnerships.

Advisors:
Academic advisors from all participating institutions are welcome and encouraged to support the team.

Teams are free to use technologies of their choice including unmanned ground vehicles (UGV), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV or drones), attachments, control systems, sensors, and software. Designs can include a mix of commercially available gear and/or custom builds. The emphasis is on the creative, innovative, and novel use of technology to solve pressing issues in agriculture.

There is no fee to enter and participate in the challenge.

We currently do not have central funding to provide teams with grants. It is up to each team to procure their own equipment and budget for project related expenses.

View information on the Amiga robot at farm-ng.com.

You can also reach out to:

Leanne Gluck, Head of Marketing

leanne@farm-ng.com

You can also access technical information for the Amiga robot on our resources page.

The competition follows the academic calendar year. Team formation and problem identification begin in the fall. During winter and spring, teams work on development, field testing and compile their final reports for submission towards the end of April. Exact dates listed above.

Teams compete for cash prizes and opportunities to attend and present at industry conferences. For the 2026 competition will will be awarding over $50K in prizes. View our about page for more information on the current competition.

Yes, so long as each team is working on a unique problem.

Choose the top projects that best represent your school.

Technology can also be shared across multiple teams.

Yes, so long as your project did not win an award from a prior competition year.

We recognize there is a learning curve and some projects may take more than one year to complete. We encourage you to iterate on your design and continue to refine and improve it as needed.

Please contact:

Kelly Scott @ frc@ucanr.edu

or submit an inquiry via our contact page