L5 Update 24.04: L5 on CBS News! Perception Aware Planning, LAST CHANCE for WeFunder Investment

Highlights

• L5 was featured in a CBS segment on Farm Automation (@1:05 min mark)
• Perception Aware Planning
• Bernardo receives "Dissertation of the Year"
• NSF Boot Camp COMPLETE
• LAST CHANCE to join WeFunder Campaign!

L5 on CBS News!

CBS News has just come out with a segment on farm automation, featuring our robot "Frazer", using footage from the World Ag Expo in Tulare. While they didn't address the Ag Worker Crisis (The fact that there simply is NOT ENOUGH workers to do this work), they did highlight how work on farms is changing. This is in line with the idea we want to switch opportunities in Farm Work from just a "Job of Necessity" to a "Career of Choice". Rather than replacing people, we see automation radically increasing productivity, ensuring that work being done is meaningful and useful. The reality is that US Agriculture, especially specialty crops, are highly dependent on migrant labor with the average migrant worker age exceeding 43 years and getting older (It is also the reason that Farm Wages have gone up 50% in the last 6 years from $13.18/hour to $19.75/hour for CA Adverse Wage Rate). Younger folks simply are NOT entering this field, which means if we want to continue to enjoy our fruits and vegetables, we HAVE to do better. We appreciate CBS putting out this piece, and look forward to more coverage as time progresses.

Technical Highlight - Perception Aware Planning

We have been making incredible strides on the technical front. While we can talk about our behavior trees, camera work, and field testing, today we are going to focus on our Perception Aware planning. In this NSF sponsored work, we are working to enable effective positioning of our robot as it uncovers the scene. Above is an occupancy grid based off a point cloud, to be used to help us determine optimal 'views' we want the robot camera to go through. This is critical work in support of our NSF grant, which if we are awarded a Phase II award would result in $1-$1.5M in grant money over two years (more on the boot camp later). Hats off to Bernardo and his work here.

Bernardo Receives Dissertation of the Year!

Speaking of Bernardo, we are proud to state that Dr. Rocamora has just been awarded "Dissertation of the Year" by his alma matter West Virginia University. This is a tremendous honor, and we are very proud of him. For anyone curious, his dissertation on "Motion Planning in Artificial and Natural Vector Fields" can be found here: "Motion Planning in Artificial and Natural Vector Fields" by Bernardo Martinez Rocamora Junior (wvu.edu)

NSF Boot Camp COMPLETE

We have officially completed the NSF Bootcamp process! In it we spoke to over 32 different customers/customer representatives/industry professionals that understand what is needed in Agriculture. If you are one of those we spoke to, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! While we enjoyed the process overall, I have to say my favorite quote from the experience came at World Agritech in San Francisco when a VP from Driscoll said, "You are the most important person I have met at this Conference.", given what we are working on, and our progress to date. He has seen lots of people *try* to work this problem, but no one that has made the progress we have.

LAST CHANCE to join WeFunder Campaign!

We are in the final stretch for our WeFunder Campaign. If you were interested in being apart of this, NOW is the time to join. After we complete this campaign, I honestly don't know the next time there will be a chance for people to come in for as little as $100. If you are already in, this is your last chance to add to your investment, or to tell a friend about it so they can also join. Here is our link: Invest in L5 Automation: Robots Picking Strawberries. Seriously. Hand-eye Coordination Software to transform the world. | Wefunder, Home of the Community Round

Okay, That's it for now! Onwards and Upwards!

-Alex Gutierrez

CEO & Founder

L5 Automation Inc