Mechanical engineering students helped design an autonomous rover and robotic arm for precision watermelon harvesting
The University of Delaware’s Blue Hens robotics team won the prestigious “Excellence in AI” award at the 2026 Farm Robotics Challenge. The team competed against 59 four-year universities from the U.S. and around the world, showcasing their skill set in solving real-world agricultural problems. The Blue Hens focused on solving a physically demanding task—harvesting watermelons—by engineering an AI-powered pick-and-place mobile rover with a collaborative robot arm. The technology also included a vision-guided compliant vacuum gripper that could gently lift heavy, delicate watermelons without damaging them.
Yin Bao, assistant professor in mechanical engineering and plant and soil sciences, led the team, and James Adkins, director of the Carvel Research and Education Center, provided insight into the challenges watermelon growers face. Team members included undergraduate students Joseph Farley, Michael Acevedo, Katlego Matsipane, Thomas Nicosia and Colin Coope, as well as graduate students Ashish Reddy Mulaka, Annamalai Muthupalaniappan, Karthikeyan Mohan, Dharun Rajasekaran, Avdhesh Gaur and Ekaterina Hampton.
Check out a video of the team’s robot in action.
