Presentations

• “Predictive Modelling of Grafting Success in Tomato Plants” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024: Robots in Action [July 2024] – Norwich, UK.
• “Interactive Perception: A heuristic approach to overcoming physical occlusions in tomato picking” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School: Robotic Phenotyping [July 2024] – Wageningen, The Netherlands.
• “Predictive Modelling of Grafting Success” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School: Robotic Phenotyping [July 2024] – Wageningen, The Netherlands.
• “The AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School – Interactive Perception (Theme 5)” (oral) – Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS) 2024 [August 2024] – London, UK.

Activities and Outputs

• Contributor to blog article ‘Peer-to-peer support for the transition to PhD‘ (Mar 2024).
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Advisory Board (November 2023 to present).
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Student Panel (November 2023 to present).
• Member of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Panel (November 2023 to present).

About me

Dimitrios Paparas is a PhD student in the Occhipinti Group at the University of Cambridge, focusing on biosensor development for agricultural applications. He holds a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Southampton and an MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from the University of Lincoln, achieving First-Class Honours in both degrees.

Dimitrios’ passion for applied research and real-world impact led him to the AgriFoRwArdS Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), a UKRI EPSRC-funded initiative led by the University of Lincoln in partnership with Cambridge and the University of East Anglia. His MSc work concentrated on Open-Source Hardware (OSH) Whisker Sensors for tactile-sensing applications, and he proceeded to focus his thesis on non-invasive detection of graft failure in tomato plants using computer vision.

His current PhD research, conducted in collaboration with Dyson Farming and supervised by Dr Luigi Occhipinti, aims to develop biosensors for “In-Field Plant Diagnostics and Physiology Monitoring.” Dimitrios explores the convergence of biosensing, machine learning, and robotics to enhance plant health monitoring, focusing on early disease detection and tracking physiological processes such as ripening, senescence, and healing. His work addresses critical challenges in Agri-Tech, aligning with AgriFoRwArdS’ emphasis on advanced sensing and perception technologies for agriculture.

Outside academia, Dimitrios enjoys cooking, staying active through hiking and gym sessions, and unwinding with films, anime, and podcasts. He aims to create a proof-of-concept wireless sensing system contributing to sustainable agriculture and autonomous farming solutions.

MSc Project

Predictive Modelling of Grafting Success in Tomato Plants 

This project seeks to develop AI-based models able to predict early signs of graft failure/success in tomato plants. Two primary methods will be investigated and compared: graft union impedance and vision-based techniques.

PhD Project

Biosensor Development for In-Field Plant Diagnostics and Physiology Monitoring

The project aims to explore the potential benefits of combining biosensing, machine learning, and robotics for in-field plant diagnostics and physiology monitoring. Plant diagnostics will primarily focus on molecular diagnostics platforms that enable early and precise detection and identification of pathogens, such as fungi, as supported by prior work. Biosensor-enabled plant physiology monitoring will also target early disease detection as well as elements of plant growth (e.g., healing, ripening, senescence). 

This project brings device-level developments to the CDT for system-level applications. The project plan aims to solve unmet needs between the industry and state-of-the-art agricultural research within the scope of the AgriFoRwArdS CDT. From a top-level perspective, this project lies firmly within the CDT’s sensing and perception research area but aspires to interact with projects focusing on manipulation, mobile robotics, and automation. Autonomous Mobile Diagnostics Platform, Plant-as-a-Sensor Paradigm, and Olfactory Fruit Harvesting are all subprojects that may be explored under this research theme in collaboration with other CDT students and the industry partner.

Dimitrios’ PhD project is being carried out in collaboration with Dyson Farming, under the primary supervision of Dr Luigi Occhipinti.