The Problem
If necessity is the mother of invention, then farming is certainly one of her oldest children. Farming practices in the US have soared beyond previous limits with cutting-edge precision software and machinery, and an unprecedented level of automation in the field. But don’t be fooled — there’s still plenty of room for an even more revolutionary breakthrough. And something “revolutionary” is exactly what the Drone Challenge is seeking.
What a Breakthrough Looks Like
Where do we go from here? Drones have tremendous potential to be an eye in the sky for farmers; a tool like none other before that could revolutionize precision agriculture. Yet, a truly exceptional integration of aerial drone imagery and automation still doesn’t exist. As a result, there’s a huge opportunity for innovators to bring world-class imagery, smart tech, and scalable technology together in a groundbreaking solution for farms everywhere.
What You Can Do To Cause A Breakthrough
- Read the complete challenge guidelines to see the rules and requirements for entry into the challenge.
- “Accept Challenge” by clicking the orange button above to compete in the challenge.
- Follow the challenge above to be notified of any status updates to the challenge.
- Share this challenge on social media using the icons above. Show your friends, your family, or anyone you know who has a passion for discovery.
- Start a conversation in our Forum to join the conversation, ask questions or connect with other innovators.
Background
The agricultural industry has a long history of adapting to changing conditions and using the latest innovations to support feeding a growing global population. Farmers deal with countless pressures and challenges such as increasing sustainability, maximizing yields to meet demand, maintaining margins, and managing water usage. Like other industries, agriculture is turning to data in order to make the best decisions possible. Farmers make thousands of decisions in a growing season and the more of those decisions supported by data the better.
Farmers have always collected field data. This process can be as simple as walking through a field and making observations, but farmers are limited by time, data recording and the capabilities of analysis tools when making visual observations. A farmer simply can’t walk every row of crops to collect data.
More recently, precision agriculture has been enabled by the combination of satellites and precision machinery. Satellites recording multispectral images allow high throughput data collection showing plant health and field productivity in small field zones. This data, in conjunction with variable rate machinery connected to GPS, allows farmers to tailor field care to the specific needs of crops while increasing water efficiency, decreasing fertilization waste, and ultimately increasing crop yields.
The next frontier of precision agriculture will be enabled with new, higher resolution data that can be captured on demand and independent of cloud cover, with very little human input. Many current precision agriculture drone and UAV solutions require a great deal of time and effort in the data collection and processing workflow. This greatly decreases the ability of farmers to tap into the benefits of this new technology space. That’s why there’s a huge opportunity for Land O’Lakes Prize innovators to bring world-class imagery, smart tech and true scalability together in a groundbreaking Solution for farms everywhere.
As a member-owned cooperative (many of which are farmers), Land O’Lakes is always looking for new ways to bring value to our members. We have provided thought leadership in the precision agriculture and satellite imaging space and have a number of tools available that provide value to farmers, like the R7® Tool by WinField.
Drones represent a prime example of a new technology that has the potential to provide even more valuable decision making data to farmers. Prospective changes to FAA regulations may offer a legal pathway for a truly autonomous and scalable drone Solution to transform a number of industries. We believe that combining world class imagery, automation, and scalability to achieve an all-encompassing precision agriculture Solution will create the value that will make a real difference in the field.
Challenge Overview
Land O’Lakes, Inc. is seeking proposed solutions that enable scalable, autonomous drone usage in precision agriculture (the “Solution(s)”). While drone technology is one of the hottest topics in the agriculture industry today, current solutions have not yet evolved to make drones a valuable or cost effective tool for farmers.
Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned cooperative, is investing in the Land O’Lakes Prize (a total potential prize purse of $150,000), to be awarded to an individual or team that evolves drone technology into a valuable, user-friendly tool for farmers.
The new drone hardware and software Solutions we seek will solve critical issues for farmers. They will limit the need for human involvement in the collection of high resolution field data, decrease the time needed to access crop imagery, and improve the ability for a farmer to make decisions based on field health data. The decision-making this technology will enable has the potential to help farmers better tailor care to the specific needs of crops and that leads to potential gains in water efficiency and crop yield while reducing fertilizer waste.
Plans for the winning Solution
Land O’Lakes is seeking scalable Solutions that they can offer to their members and is using a crowdsourcing challenge to find and evaluate new technologies (the “Challenge”). The competitors will retain ownership of any intellectual property contained in the proposed Solutions.
Solutions that are developed to compete for the Land O’Lakes Prize will also have the potential to be independently repurposed for use in security, inspection, livestock surveillance and other applications which require regular, repeated flights and data collection with high autonomy.
Finalists and Prizes
Competitors must submit written proposals along with videos, log files and other supporting information by August 1, 2017. Judging will determine up to three finalists (the “Finalists”) which will be invited to attend a live demonstration event at an FAA approved test location. Performance at this live demonstration event will support the determination of the Grand Prize winner, if any. If it is determined, in the judges’ sole discretion, through this demonstration that none of the Finalists have met the Criteria listed herein, no Grand Prize will be awarded..
The Challenge offers the Grand Prize winner a cash prize of $140,000 USD. For each of the Finalists not selected as the Grand Prize winner, the Challenge offers a cash prize of $5,000 USD.
How do I participate?
To be eligible to be selected as a Finalist, the Solution must, at minimum:
- Be able to record orthorectified crop images with Red (600-720 nm) and IR (760-900 nm) spectral bands in a minimum of georeferenced .geotiff format.
- Be capable of autonomously determining an appropriate flight path to image a field after receiving a file containing the bounds of the area to be imaged
- Be capable of autonomously operating (take off, collect data, land, transmitting data etc.) unattended for multiple days, with multiple flights per day.
- Utilize wireless connectivity (suitable for use in rural areas) to transmit and receive data.
- Be able to operate in winds of up to 20mph, and use data connection to determine if weather conditions are safe for flight.
The Solution may include a variety of approaches, including, but not limited to:
- Drone and UAV hardware (multi-copter, fixed wing, fixed wing/vertical take off hybrid, inflatable, etc.)
- Base stations, ports, or hanger hardware to enable longer term autonomy
The judging panel will rank the eligible Solutions submitted against the following criteria:
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Criteria
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Description
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Percent Importance
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|
Imaging Capabilities
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- Record orthorectified crop images
- Red (600-720 nm) and IR (760-900 nm) spectral bands in minimum of .geotiff format
- Automatic image stitching with sun/brightness correction
- Ability to store unique identifier to associate imagery with a grower/farmer
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15
|
|
Autonomous Operation
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- Receive a file defining the bounds of the area/fields to be imaged
- Autonomously determine a flight path to image a given area
- Identify and avoid obstacles during flight
- Ability to operate (take off, collect data, land, recharge, transmit data output etc.) unattended for multiple days, with multiple flights per day
- Ability to receive/alter instructions mid flight
- A human operator must be able to override with manual inputs at any time
|
35
|
|
Communications and Data Handling
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- Utilize Verizon LTE network, or other wireless connectivity (suitable for use in rural areas) to transmit and receive large amounts of data
- Solution must be able to collect and store large amounts of collected data
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15
|
|
Scalability
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- A single flying vehicle should be able to image multiple different fields (at least 3 - 70 acre fields) in a 1.5 mile radius in a 4 hour window
- Preference will be given to Solutions able to collect data unattended from the greatest number of fields in the largest total area
|
25
|
|
Safety
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- Operation in winds of up to 20mph
- Utilize data connection and/or locally collected data to determine if weather conditions are safe for flight
- Long intervals between needed service/failure
- Drone must be able to receive a signal mid-flight to return to a safe location
|
10
|
Additional information may be requested before making a final selection of Finalists.
Additional Rules
Participation Eligibility:
The Prize is open to individuals, age 18 or older, private teams, public teams, and collegiate teams. Individual competitors and teams may originate from any country. Employees of Land O’Lakes, Inc., HeroX, and the Dean’s Office and Computer Science and Engineering Department at the College of Science and Engineering of the University of Minnesota, and their respective immediate family members or persons living in their households (whether or not related), and advertising agencies, affiliates and/or subsidiaries of any of the above, are not eligible to enter or win.
Submissions must be made in English. All Challenge-related communication will be in English.
To be eligible to compete, you must comply with all the terms of the Challenge as defined in the Challenge-Specific Agreement – Competitor Retains IP, which will be made available and must be signed by the individual or an authorized representative of the team upon registration.
Intellectual Property Rights:
As detailed in the Challenge-Specific Agreement – Competitor Retains IP, each competitor will retain all intellectual property rights in its proposed Solution. Each competitor represents that its proposed Solution is of original development by such competitor, is specifically developed for purposes of the Challenge, and shall not infringe or violate any patent, copyright, trade secret, or other proprietary right of any third party.
Right of First Negotiation:
In exchange for the cash prize, each Finalist acknowledges and agrees that for a period of twelve (12) calendar months after the date on which the Grand Prize winner is announced (the “Period”), Land O’Lakes, Inc. shall have a right of first negotiation to become the exclusive licensee of the Solution for purposes of the agricultural industry worldwide. As soon as practicable, and in any event within five days after a Finalists’ receipt of any oral or written offer from a third party during the Period with respect to an exclusive license to the Solution for purposes of the agricultural industry, such Finalist shall notify Land O’Lakes, Inc. in writing of such offer, and if the offer is in writing, provide a copy thereof. Land O’Lakes, Inc. and such Finalist shall have ninety (90) days from the date of such notice to negotiate in good faith, an exclusive license at terms no less favorable than those contained in the offer. If an exclusive license is agreed upon during such ninety (90) day period, the Finalist and Land O’Lakes, Inc. shall than execute a substantive agreement with respect to such exclusive license. If Land O’Lakes, Inc. elects, in its sole discretion, not to pursue the exclusive license, the applicable Finalist shall be free to agree to the offer from such third party so long as such agreement does not affect any otherwise existing obligations between such Finalist and Land O’Lakes, Inc.
Registration and Submissions:
Submissions must be made online (only), via upload to the HeroX.com website, on or before 4:59pm EST on August 1, 2017. All uploads must be in PDF format. No late submissions will be accepted.
Selection of Winners:
Based on the winning criteria, prizes will be awarded per the weighted Judging Criteria section above.
Should multiple submissions equally meet the requirements as stated in the judging criteria, preference will be given to submissions that can overperform (i.e. higher image resolution, ability to image a larger area, etc.)
Judging Panel:
The determination of the winners will be made by the sole discretion of Land O’Lakes based on evaluation by a panel of judges selected by Land O'Lakes.
Additional Information
- Any indication of "copying" amongst competitors is grounds for disqualification.
- All proposed Solutions will go through a process of due diligence; any proposed Solution found to be misrepresentative, plagiarized, or sharing an idea that is not their own will be automatically disqualified.
- All ineligible applicants will be automatically removed from the Challenge with no recourse or reimbursement.
- No purchase or payment of any kind is necessary to enter or win the Challenge.
- Void wherever restricted or prohibited by law.
Participants and potential winner(s) must comply with all terms and conditions of these Challenge Rules, and winning is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements. Finalists and potential winner(s) will be notified by phone, mail, and/or email, all of which are authorized by participant. If a potential winner cannot be contacted within forty eight (48) hours of the first attempted contact, or if a potential winner or his/her entry is found to be ineligible, or if the potential winner does not comply with the Challenge Rules, then the potential winner may be disqualified and an alternate potential winner may be selected by Land O’Lakes in his/her place. In such event, an alternate potential winner will be notified by Land O’Lakes as described above.
In the event of a dispute regarding a participant or potential winner, the participant will be deemed to be the individual or entity named in the submission form.
Each Finalist and potential winner grants Land O’Lakes, their respective affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers and/or contractors full and unlimited permission to use its personality, including the name, likeness, photographs, video recordings and voice, for promotion and publicity purposes, including in all advertising, promotions, news coverage, and other features, without further compensation. As a condition of winning, winner agrees to make itself available to Land O’Lakes, their affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers and/or contractors for interviews, photographs, and video recording.
Winner, if any, is solely responsible for all federal, state, and local taxes, if any, due in connection with the prize or award.
Land O’Lakes, its affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers and/or contractors will have no liability or responsibility for or related to the awards hereunder and there are no warranties, representations or guarantees, express or implied, applicable to the Challenge. All awards are awarded “AS IS.”
The decisions of Land O’Lakes concerning any and all matters with respect to the Challenge and the awarding of the awards shall be final. Land O’Lakes, their affiliates, subsidiaries, employees, directors, officers and/or contractors will not be responsible for lost, stolen, damaged or incomplete entries, or any entries that are misdirected, deleted, late, delayed or garbled by any computer, Internet or network transmission, or as a result of any human error, equipment or programming associated with, or utilized, in this Challenge or the processing of any entries, or for any telecommunications, network, electronic, technical or computer failures of any kind. All blank, corrupted, or otherwise incomplete entries are automatically null and void.
Land O’Lakes reserve the right to disqualify any participant tampering with the operation or conduct of the Challenge. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT BY A PARTICIPANT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CHALLENGE MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, LAND O’LAKESS RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.
If for any reason the Challenge is not capable of running as planned, including but not limited to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failure, human error or any other causes beyond the control of Land O’Lakes that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Challenge, Land O’Lakes reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to disqualify any individual who tampers with the entry process, and to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Challenge. Land O’Lakes assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to, or alteration of, entries. Land O’Lakes are not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers, or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any email or entry to be received by Land O’Lakes due to technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any web site, any combination thereof, or otherwise, including any injury or damage to participant's or any other person's computer related to or resulting from participation, uploading or downloading any materials in the Challenge.
Any dispute that may arise regarding this Challenge is governed by the laws of the state of Minnesota and the exclusive jurisdiction for resolving any dispute related to the Challenge shall be in the District Court of Hennepin County, Minnesota, or such applicable court located in Minnesota.
Any questions regarding the Challenge or these Official Rules may be directed to the following e-mail address: dronechallenge@landolakes.com
To obtain the name of winners, if any, mail a self-addressed, stamped business-sized envelope to Land O’Lakes, Inc. c/o Land O’Lakes Prize Drone Challenge - Winner List Request, 4001 Lexington Ave N, Arden Hills, MN 55112. Winner List requests must be received by November 15, 2017.
Sponsored by Land O’Lakes, Inc., who may be contacted at 4001 Lexington Ave. N, Arden Hills, MN 55126 ATTN: Martin Caride
