The Organization

The Alliance of Bioversity International delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation. The Alliance works with local, national and multinational partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and Africa, and with the public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT have initiated a project, titled Artemis. Artemis is developing AI technology to enable on-farm breeding. Crop breeding is one of the foundations of agriculture, under the current breeding systems a common assumption is that it takes 10 years to develop a new variety. Given the pace of climate change this timeframe is no longer viable. New approaches are needed to speed up the breeding cycle and enable a greater synchrony between plant breeding and on-farm conditions, shifting breeding from a majority on-station to majority on-farm process. Artemis is addressing this issue by leveraging the power of technology to enable breeding programs with a new generation of AI-powered and smartphone-deployable tools. The principal technology is computer vision phenotyping, with explorations into multimodal data that integrates speech and text to actively integrate farmers into the plant improvement process. Artemis is currently in the second investment phase, having been featured recently in Reuters.

About the Consultancy

The Plot-registration and Image Capture Consultant will be responsible for testing and building on the plot-registration methods and working with the team to test new solutions on a need-basis.

Background and Task Description

Plant breeding primarily occurs in research stations, where breeders evaluate novel plant varieties (genotypes) in small plots (approximately 4m x 3m), often ranging from several hundred to a few thousand plots.

The Artemis team has successfully developed fully executable standard operating procedures (SOPs) that capture data of sufficient quality to develop highly accurate models that measure plant performance. However, a few additional challenges are remaining around the efficiency and consistency of data capture.

Plot Registration

A variety of metadata is associated with each plot (variety type, planting practice, etc). The imagery data must be registered with this metadata for it to be useful. As the metadata is unique for each plot, data systems must be developed to efficiently capture the data. For example, standard practices are to use QR or barcode labels to register plots. However, manually scanning each QR or barcode can take several seconds or more. With only 1000 plots, ten seconds of plot registration time can total almost three hours. The current system used requires around 30 seconds of registration time. Innovative solutions must be developed to reduce this time to as little as possible.

Image Capture Methods

SOPs have been developed using manual methods (holding the phone by hand). However, this approach is labour-intensive, taking up to 5 minutes per plot, and physically demanding, making it unsuitable for efficient use at scale. To address these challenges, the team has been working on a wheeled device called ‘Bruno.’ Bruno consists of a simple wheeled device that can mount two phones to a central frame and be easily pushed through the fields by one person. The current Bruno can image a breeding plot in under 30 seconds.

Bruno comprises the following components:

1. A central frame connected to a small wheel and two handles.
2. A central vertical pole capable of mounting two or more phones.
3. Sidebars that can open and close to widen the angle near the wheel, facilitating observation of plant parts beneath leaves (pods and flowers).

With Bruno, the user needs to unmount and remount both phones to scan the QR code, or requires the user to manually select the plot on each phone, adding additional time to the plot registration process. In addition to this, the user needs to be able to trigger image capture consistently throughout the plot. Some image capture protocols call for imaging one side of every single plant in 2 rows, while others require taking 3-5 pictures of the whole plot from a top-down angle.

Goals

Our goal is to reduce plot registration to 10 seconds or less. Through testing with our field team, we have derived a priority list of solutions to test. These solutions will require a mix of software and hardware skills. You will need to mix and match the solutions to create a complete plot registration and image capture solution integrated across two individual phones.

• Recognition of the next plot based on wheel rotations. Given a wheel of a known diameter, each rotation corresponds to a fixed length. Can wheel rotation be used to trigger plot transition and image capture automatically?  Per 2 rotations
• Leveraging existing hardware on mid-range smartphones (e.g.gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS)
• Binary button to control yes/no or back/next in-app choices
• Small, hand-held numeric keypad to control multiple in-app choices like, yes/no, back/next, plot-selection (including typing plot-number), initiating image capture or stopping image capture, etc.
• Integrated hardware and software solutions by mounting a third screen on Bruno to control the two phones and register plot transitions.

Deliverables 
1. Assessment, Planning, and Development: 
Deliverable: Initial assessment report, comprehensive project plan, and prototype solutions. 
Description: Conduct an initial assessment of current plot-registration and image capture methods, create a detailed project plan with milestones and resources, and develop prototype solutions for plot registration using innovative methods such as QR/barcode scanning. 
Deadline: 2 months from the start of the consultancy, 50% of the consultancy fee 
2. Enhanced SOPs and System Integration: 
Deliverable: Enhanced SOPs for image capture, integrated plot registration, and image capture system. 
Description: Develop and test enhanced SOPs for image capture using the ‘Bruno’ device, create prototype solutions for automated image capture, and integrate these into a cohesive system. Conduct field testing and provide a report on performance metrics and user feedback. 
Deadline: 7 months from the start of the consultancy, 30% of the consultancy fee 
3. Final Report and Handover: 
Deliverable: Final report, complete documentation, and training session. 
Description: Summarize all project activities, findings, and outcomes in a final report. Provide complete documentation of developed solutions and SOPs, and conduct a training session for the field team on new methods. Handover all project materials, including source code, hardware designs, and user manuals. 
Deadline: End of the consultancy terms, 30% of the consultancy fee 

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Agricultural Sciences, or a related field 
• Additional certifications or coursework in fields like robotics, data science, software engineering, or agricultural technology is a plus
• Experience in designing and implementing hardware solutions for fieldwork, particularly in an agricultural context 
• Experience with software development and integration, especially in developing mobile applications or using smartphone hardware for innovative solutions 
• Experience in data collection and management, particularly in creating or using metadata for research purposes 
• Knowledge of sensor technologies (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, GPS) and their application in data collection and automation 
• Experience with robotics or automated systems, including the design and implementation of wheeled devices or similar tools 
• Understanding of image capture technologies and the ability to integrate them into research workflows 
• Knowledge of data management systems and how to link metadata with imagery efficiently 
•  Ability to think outside of the box to develop innovative research approaches and solutions 
• Flexibility and adaptability to work in dynamic field conditions and adjust to evolving project needs 
• Proactive and self-motivated with the ability to work independently and take initiative in developing and testing new solutions 

Timeline 

The consultancy will span eleven months, starting from the date of contract signing.

Budget 

The budget for this consultancy will be negotiated based on the consultant’s experience, the complexity of the tool, and the estimated time frame.

Applications  

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the consultancy and to submit their applications. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and processes personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: 25^th August 2024

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:http://alliancebioversityciat.org