Persistence and serendipity are often pathways to success. Salah Sukkarieh started out tinkering with cars in Western Sydney, while dreaming of working in Space. Now, he is Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at The University of Sydney, and CEO of Agerris – an AgTech start-up developing SwagBot for agriculture. Salah talks about collaborating with NASA on the Mars Rover that inspired SwagBot, which is set to bring agriculture into the digital future.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A ROBOTICS ENGINEER?

As a kid I just enjoyed pulling things apart and tinkering. By Year 12 (Granville Boys High, Sydney) I wanted to do mechanical engineering. Well, that’s what I thought I wanted to do! I really wanted to work for a Formula 1 racing team, or a space agency. It just gravitated from there.

WHAT WAS THE TURNING POINT?

At the end of Year 10, my parents, who had come to Australia in 1969, sent me to Lebanon and Jordan for a holiday. All my aunties, uncles and cousins are overseas, they’re all from villages, and I saw how much effort my cousins put into their study, though there wasn’t much opportunity for them. I realised how my practical interest could be coupled with a deeper understanding. When I came home, all of a sudden I loved maths, physics and engineering studies.

All-wheel-drive SwagBot is designed for rough terrain.

“I DON’T THINK ANYTHING IS ACCIDENTAL. THINGS PLAY OUT FOR A REASON.”

WAS IT ACCIDENTAL, OR WAS THERE A CHANCE ENCOUNTER?

After all these years, I don’t think anything is accidental. Things play out for a reason. When I went to enrol in mechanical engineering at the University of Sydney in 1991, the professor behind the table said: ‘You've got the marks to enrol in a new course called mechatronics.’ I couldn’t work out why I would do that – robotics was not a big thing back then, but I enrolled anyway, thinking, ‘as long as I can work as a mechanical engineer’.

Robotics engineer / Entrepreneur Dr Salah Sukkarieh.

WHEN DID YOU AND ROBOTICS ‘CLICK’?

In 1995 the university employed its first Professor of Mechatronics, Hugh Durrant-Whyte. In a holiday break my friends and I suggested to him that we build a robot to go around tennis courts and pick up the tennis balls. But Hugh had bigger ideas, and we built an underwater robot. That got me into field robotics.

KEY MENTORS?

Professors Hugh Durrant-Whyte and Eduardo Nebot, both my PhD supervisors. They introduced me to the world of robotics, and in particular outdoor aerial and ground robotics. They knew people at NASA, and other aerospace companies internationally, Patrick Stevedores, and Rio Tinto (who pioneered robotics technology in mining). Across the world, people started to recognise the pioneering work we were doing at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR).

“ROBOTICS WAS NOT A BIG THING BACK THEN, BUT I ENROLLED ANYWAY.”

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH PROJECTS?

The first was getting funding to design and build aerial robots for environment monitoring. That got me engaged with farmers around Australia. The second project was getting funding to build space rovers, to research and design novel mechanisms for terrestrially challenging environments, as well as interacting with NASA and European Space Agency researchers … and sending my students on internships to work on their projects.

Trials include testing to see if cattle accept SwagBot, in the hope it can one day help with herding.

TELL US ABOUT SWAGBOT?

SwagBot is a digital farmhand, a robot that works in difficult terrain. Its machine learning algorithms give it the ability to think. It’s the latest evolution of the many farm robots we’ve built at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, which are now being built through Agerris. The design ideas came from many examples used in space rovers – so it could be on Mars, or on a volcano. But SwagBot’s focus is to work with farmers to survey the land, detect and eradicate weeds, test soils, and maybe one day, to help them muster cattle.

“SWAGBOT IS A DIGITAL FARMHAND, A ROBOT THAT WORKS IN DIFFICULT TERRAIN.”

WHAT IS AGERRIS?

I’d been in discussion for two years with growers and investors to keep SwagBot technology in Australian hands and in April 2019, we got just under eight million dollars to kick-start Agerris, an AgTech company. It’s the biggest ever seed grant for an Australian AgTech start-up. Now we employ twelve engineers building field robots for Australian growers.

Some of the ACFR team developing SwagBot.

“THE GOAL IS SUSTAINABLE FARMING ... KEEPING FARMERS PROFITABLE.”

WILL SWAGBOT DISPLACE FARMERS?

Many times I’ve been told that I’m going to put farmers out of work, that I’m going to wreck the food system. Our challenge was to build a robot that works as a co-worker with farmers. It’s a new technology bringing together mechanics, software and electronics. Farmers are funding this technology. We want growers to stay on their farms, not sell out under pressure from rising labor costs and reduced viability, so we’re working hand-in-hand with them. The goal is sustainable farming, using less chemicals, and keeping farmers profitable on the land.

WHAT WORRIES YOU ABOUT THIS TECHNOLOGY?

My biggest concern is that the agriculture robotics technology disappears into the hands of big global companies who are about profit growth more than anything else.

WOULD YOU SAY SWAGBOT IS DESIGNED, OR ENGINEERED?

I am not a product designer, but I think I have an eye for design. I want it to look good when it’s working in the field. Why should a farmer deserve less (aesthetically) than anyone else? We don’t have a product designer on the team yet, but that would add a lot of value.

SwagBot technology is based on work done by The University of Sydney for NASA’s Mars project.

YOU’RE SHAPING THE UNKNOWN?

Sometimes you’ve just got to keep pushing because you're seeing something bigger. I’ve learnt how to make things, how to develop products, I trust in the process.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Not-for-profit leaders. I was brought up in a religious background (as a Muslim) and I draw on this to guide me… to leave the world in a better place than when I came into it. I have four daughters; I want a better, smarter world for them.

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