Where do you go when you need parts for a robot that can walk through cucumber vines without getting tripped up as it monitors the air for disease spores? A machine that connects to computers and cameras to sort thousands of seeds carefully by size? Or a tractor-mounted device that can stake a field full of tomatoes automatically?
If you are a North Carolina State University scientist or engineer working on challenges related to agriculture, the university’s Plant Sciences Building has just the place: its 1,550-square-foot makerspace.
Little more than a year ago, the makerspace was an empty space in the building. Since then, under the leadership of Andrea Monteza Arauz, it’s become a popular resource for faculty members and students engaged in agricultural research.
Monteza, of the university’s Office of Research and Innovation, is a mechatronics engineer – one…
