(Brookings, SD) — A group of South Dakota State University engineering students are returning as champions after taking first place at NASA’s Blue Skies competition with a drone designed to help farmers. The SDSU team beat out schools like UC Davis and Embry-Riddle with their STaPLE drone, short for Soil Testing and Plant Leaf Extraction. It uses GPS and AI to collect soil and plant samples autonomously, saving farmers time and labor. The students say they worked closely with local farmers to design a tool that solves real problems in the field. Their prototype could hit the market as early as 2027. Despite being first-time competitors, SDSU was the only team to build an actual working drone. The win brings SDSU its first-ever NASA contest title, and possibly a future patent.
SDSU Students Win NASA Competition
