Georgia Tech’s Rural Computer Science Initiative has expanded its program to include agricultural applications, aiming to help high school students in rural areas learn computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) skills relevant to farming. The initiative has distributed FarmBots—automated, open-source farming systems that use coding, robotics, and data science—to several school districts. These devices monitor environmental factors such as soil moisture, temperature, and sunlight.
A FarmBot system was also installed in Georgia Tech’s community garden. This installation will serve as a test bed for developing learning experiences and assisting partner schools with setting up their own devices.
T.S. Whitmore, who teaches computer science at both the middle and high schools in Twiggs County, noted the value of the resources provided by the initiative. Most of his high school students have volunteered to participate in the FarmBot project.
“I learned so much in so little time. I have so much to learn, but I’ve never been more excited,” Whitmore said. “I’m learning to think outside the box and find different ways to connect new learning to things previously learned. I expect to be more creative in my lesson planning.”
