The UNACOMA Vision Event
The UNACOMA Vision Event at AgEng2006 in Bonn in September 2006 was an opportunity for younger people to demonstrate their vision of agricultural and biological systems engineering in the future.
Competition
At the Event, ‘young’ people (aged 35 or under) presented
papers on what they think will be important in the profession in years
to come. The ideas showed lateral thinking taking into
account ecological and economic factors.
The prize
As in previous years, the winners were rewarded with a generous cash
prize from UNACOMA, the Italian Farm Machinery Manufacturers Association.
The winner
The winning entry at AgEng2006 was a paper on The
future of protected agriculture in arid regions: autonomous mobile robots
for quality and safety by Alfredo Sánchez-Gimeno and José Luis Guzmán-Sánchez,
both of University of Almería, Spain.
The winning presenter, Alfredo Sánchez receiving a cheque from Ettore Gasparetto.
An entry from University College, Dublin was the runner up with a paper on Integrating Engineering and Biology – The Final Frontier by Daniel Delahunty, Terence Delaney, Gerard Kennedy, Nicholas Lacey, Ciara McNestry, Timothy O’Connell, Domhnall O’Hanlon and Joseph Spollen.
The past
At AgEng2004, the team (pictured below) from the Polytechnic University
of Madrid won with a presentation and scale model of their glowing Greenfactory.
In 2002, a team from Holland (pictured below) won with an entertaining display of robot ants.
The Vision Event has built up a reputation for innovative thinking and enthusiastic presentations in an enjoyable atmosphere.