Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) Department of Bioindustrial Machinery Engineering undergraduate students formed the 'SCV' team (advising professor Myung-gyun Yang) and won the Excellence Award (Rural Development Administration Commissioner’s Award) at the 6th KSAM Agricultural Robot Competition organized by the Korean Society of Agricultural Machinery, demonstrating JBNU's nationwide competitiveness in agricultural AI and robotics.

This competition is one of the country's premier agricultural robotics contests, comprehensively evaluating AI-based perception technologies and robots' physical control capabilities (Physical AI). The event centered on tasks in which robots autonomously navigate in greenhouse environments, detect abnormalities, assess crop growth status to determine maturity, and perform return-driving.

Beginning with document screening in late July and through the preliminary rounds, the final, held on October 29 at the Jeonnam Agricultural Research and Extension Services, featured fierce competition among undergraduate and graduate student teams from major universities nationwide.

JBNU's 'SCV' team developed its own AI image-recognition and sensor-fusion navigation algorithms, demonstrating a high level of technical maturity. Unlike some teams that chose a simulation-centered approach to boost short-term performance, the SCV team drew the judges' attention with a field-centered Physical AI design that faithfully reflected real agricultural environments. Although the team was mainly composed of second-year students, they perfectly implemented the full sequence of navigation, perception, and response, earning the Excellence Award and finishing very close to the top-ranked teams.

Team leader Eun-su Park said, 'Thanks to Professor Myung-gyun Yang's meticulous guidance and the team members' dedication, we were able to produce high-quality results in a short period.' Won-jin Kim, who developed the navigation algorithm, said, 'By designing the AI perception and control algorithms myself, I was able to realize the robot's process of autonomously perceiving and moving in a real environment.' A-rin Lee, who was responsible for the communication system, said, 'Building real-time communication between the robot and the laptop involved many trials and errors, but it allowed me to grow significantly.'

Advising professor Myung-gyun Yang of JBNU's Department of Bioindustrial Machinery Engineering said, 'Most team members are passionate and excellent undergraduate researchers, and I am proud that their efforts have borne fruit. We will continue to strengthen AI–robot convergence education and practice-centered Physical AI research to cultivate next-generation talent in agricultural technology.'

The 'SCV' team consists of JBNU Department of Bioindustrial Machinery Engineering students Won-jin Kim, Tae-kyung Kim, Eun-su Park, Seung-jun Shim, Ji-hyeon Yang, and A-rin Lee, most of whom are undergraduate researchers affiliated with ADILAB (Agricultural Digitalization and Intelligence Laboratory).