Sparking Innovation
At Sabanto, we thrive on curiosity, problem-solving, and pushing the boundaries of agricultural autonomy. To put that spirit into action, our team took part in a company-wide hackathon, a friendly competition designed to spark creativity, encourage collaboration, and bring bold new ideas to life.
Team members in the Ames, IA, office presenting to coworkers at other office locations.
What is a Hackathon?
A hackathon is a fast-paced, idea-driven competition where teams or individuals brainstorm and build solutions to real-world challenges. It’s part creativity, part collaboration, and part hands-on problem-solving.
Ideas in Action
Eight teams across Sabanto rose to the challenge, tackling topics of their choice. Teams built out concepts and demos and then presented their work to the entire company. Their peers voted on each project based on its originality, functionality, and potential impact.
The range of ideas was impressive:
- AI-powered implement failure detection using audio
- Interactive 3D vehicle visualizer
- Raster coverage visualization for dense datasets
- Vehicle telemetry sparklines
- AI-powered virtual Field Operator
- Follow-me mode path generator
- 2D/3D mapping
- Vehicle diagnostics for troubleshooting autonomy systems in the field
And the Winner Is…
The winning project was awarded to the AI-powered virtual Field Operator. This team developed a tool that uses a large language model (LLM) to intelligently plan work across multiple fields, optimize transit routes, and queue missions for Sabanto Autonomy Systems.
The tool reduced mission planning time and clicks by 500% when scheduling three missions across three fields. Beyond saving time, it also made workflows more transparent, showing its logic and reasoning so users can review and approve mission plans with confidence.
Why It Matters
The hackathon showed what can happen when we combine creativity with the technical talent across our team. The ideas generated during this event show the incredible potential for making autonomy smarter, faster, and easier to use. Most importantly, it reinforced the collaborative spirit that drives Sabanto forward.
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