Welcome
#AgRobotics Lab at the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CLAS), Cornell University, is dedicated to advancing AI, automation, and robotics technologies for agricultural applications. Our mission is to develop and deploy intelligent, smart farming solutions that enhance input precision and efficiency, increase crop yield and quality, and ensure the socio-economic and environmental sustainability in farming operations.
Principal Investigator
Manoj Karkee, PhD, Norman and Sharon Scott Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Biological and Environmental Engineering Department.
Email – mk2684@cornell.edu
Office – 308 Riley-Robb Hall
Brief Bio: Dr. Manoj Karkee received his PhD in Agricultural Engineering and Human Computer Interaction from Iowa State University in 2009. He joined Washington State University (WSU) in 2010 as an assistant professor and was serving as the director and professor at WSU Center for Precision and Automated Agricultural Systems (CPAAS) before joining Cornell University in 2025.
At Cornell, Dr. Karkee leads a strong research and education program in the area of sensing, machine vision, AI, and Robotics in Agriculture. He has published widely in such journals as ‘Computers and Electronics in Agriculture’, ‘Computers in Industry’, ‘Journal of Field Robotics’, and ‘Journal of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)’, and has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international conferences and universities. Dr. Karkee is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of ‘Computers and Electronics in Agriculture’, and associate editor of ‘Journal of the ASABE’, and has served as a guest editor for ‘Journal of Field Robotics’. He is also an elected chair of CIGR (International Commission of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering) Section III – Plant Production, and served two terms as the chair of IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Technical Committee 8.1 – Control in Agriculture. Dr. Karkee was awarded ‘2020 Rainbird Engineering Concept of the Year’ by ASABE, and was recognized as ‘2019 Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence and IoT’ by Connected World magazine.
Research Focus
At the #AgRobotics Lab, we develop novel smart farming solutions enabled by AI and robotic technologies. Major projects/interests include:
- Multi-purpose Robotics for Fruit Crops: Creating novel robotic solutions for automating labor/resource-intensive farming operations, including fruit and vegetable harvesting, fruit tree pruning, and crop thinning and pollination
- Soft Robotics for Tree Fruit Operations: Investigating soft robotic arms with enhanced flexibility and dexterity for automating orchard operations such as fruit harvesting and flower thinning
- Autonomous Crop Monitoring and Management: Advancing robotic systems equipped with color, spectral and depth cameras, LiDAR, and other sensors for precise monitoring, assessing, and managing pests, diseases, nutrients, and water
- Modular and mobile-device-based solutions for farming: Innovating small, modular robots and mobile-device-based Applications for collaborative field operations, including harvested crop hauling, weeding, and yield prediction
- AI-enabled Machine Vision: Enhancing machine vision systems for real-time object detection and localization, optimal field navigation, and efficient robotic manipulation in complex farm environments.
- Investigating human-robot-plant/animal interaction, integration, and collaboration
- Innovating solutions for small-scale and urban farming applications
The #AgRobotics Lab actively collaborates with research institutions, industry partners, government agencies, and farmers in New York, across the USA, and around the world in developing practically applicable and economically viable solutions. Through extensive field trials and data-driven evaluations, we strive to translate cutting-edge research into scalable and cost-effective technologies that benefit individual farmers and the agricultural industries around the world.
If you are interested in collaborative work or in joining our lab, please reach out to Dr. Manoj Karkee (mk2684@cornell.edu).
Note: Some content of this lab website was generated by PI Karkee and his team while working at Washington State University.