Yanmar

Design Factory Melbourne

Improving productivity for farmers.

In a collaboration in the SUGAR Network for Design Innovation between Design Factory Melbourne, Kyoto Institute of Technology and Japan-based engineering company Yanmar, a team of students were challenged to find solutions to common issues faced by farmers who work in distributed agriculture that could maximise their productivity. The team created Kansroo, an autonomous mobile field robot that monitors and analyses crop health and farming conditions at remote locations.

The robot’s cameras and sensors can formulate digestible information for farmers and present it via a digital application. This application allows farmers to observe their crops, view informative data, schedule tasks, view weather forecasting, and check previous data to recognise patterns. This can enable farmers to visualise the effect of their farming actions on their crops. The precise data can empower farmers to make smarter farming decisions which may improve crop health and maximise yields. The Kansroo ensures farmers’ can maximise land and time management in an effort to boost overall productivity.

Concept by Natasha Miles (Design Strategy & Innovation), Josh Bragagnolo (Industrial Design) and Liam Olynyk (Business & Entrepreneurship) and students from Kyoto Institute of Technology; Akimi Ono (Architecture), Hikaru Inoue (Informatics), Masaya Kibayashi (Space Design) & Yuki Tamiya (Electronic Engineering).

Industry Partner: Yanmar, Japan.

Functional overview of the Kansroo

Kansroo in action

Kansroo in context at docking station

Functions of the Kansroo application

Kansroo moving between crop beds along narrow furrows

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.