We moved to Nebraska to be closer to my wife’s family 20 years ago! This eventually led us to Aurora where I began working at the Edgerton Explorit Center.
Currently, we are creating a grain bin safety and management robot that directly engages the surface of the grain. Grain bins are dirty, dangerous workplaces. We keep that farmer with a shovel out of the bin by leveling, breaking crusts, doing inspections and feeding grain into the extraction augers.
We are working towards bringing a complex robotics solution to market that includes autonomous capabilities, product safety and reliability challenges, and the fact that a grain bin is no place for a human or a robot!
Two fun facts about me are:
Fact #1: I graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in elementary education – and participated in the decathlon on the track team – Rock Chalk.
Fact #2: I had never been inside of a grain bin before we started building the Grain Weevil robot.
@Grain_Weevil
If I had five minutes to prepare a lecture, I would teach a lesson on the process of innovation and the value of including students in all aspects of the process.