Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI
What will tomorrow's agriculture look like? How will electrified and automated vehicles affect our future nutrition? And what do research scientists actually do all day?
With these and many other questions in mind, two fifth-grade classes from the Campus Cordis Community School visited Fraunhofer IVI. As part of a week-long project, the students were working intensively on the topics of climate change and sustainability. Accordingly, their interest in electrified and automated agriculture as research topics was particularly high.
In a short lecture, Dr. Martin Ufert, head of the “Monitoring and Operating Strategies” group at Fraunhofer IVI, introduced the institute and then finally released the young guests into the most exciting part of the day. During a visit to the test oval, colleagues from the sections for vehicle control and sensor systems as well as charging infrastructure demonstrated how an electric truck drives around the test track without a driver and is automatically recharged via a fast-charging system, and how the CERES field robot can revolutionize future field work with the help of intelligent sensors.
The excursion to Fraunhofer IVI also gave the students the opportunity to get ideas for a possible future career outside the classroom. They were extremely interested in the day-to-day work at a research institute and asked very specific questions. Our research scientists, in turn, were deeply impressed by the knowledge of electric charging that the young researchers already had.
Working with schools is always a very enriching experience for both sides, and we are particularly pleased if we were able to inspire young people to pursue STEM careers and work in science.
