The winners of autonomous greenhouse challenge

A broadcast of the winning ceremony can be found above.

Organizers Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and Tencent announced the five winning teams of the 24-hour hackathon on Nov. 5. They were CVA, digital_cucumber, MondayLettuce, VeggieMight and Team Koala.

Similar to a complex game, the teams were tasked with growing artificial lettuce in a virtual greenhouse environment.

"The crop sometimes reacted differently than expected in a practical situation. The teams themselves determined the operational decisions on operating screens, artificial lighting, heating, supplemental CO2 and crop spacing decisions," says the press release. "They did this using their own AI algorithms. They were virtually growing, but they had to consider weather forecasts and could not redo the past, just like in reality. The teams were given access to a climate model and a lettuce crop growth model that were developed by researchers of WUR."

Winning teams will move on to the final challenge which takes place starting in February 2022. They will be tasked with growing a real-life lettuce crop using artificial intelligence - a completely autonomous process without human interaction.

"Seventeen teams with more than 140 participants and 18 nationalities participated in the hackathon," says the press release. "Many team members were physically present at the WUR location Bleiswijk during the 24-hour hackathon, while others joined online in this hybrid event."

An international jury awarded points to the teams for their AI approach (40 per cent weighting) as well as the net profit achieved in the game to grow virtual lettuce in a virtual greenhouse (60 per cent weighting).

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Source: Greenhouse Canada