Big Ten Network (March 19) -- Farming and robotics. They might seem like rather antithetical fields, one among the oldest vocations in the world, dating back well over 10,000 years; the other, largely an advent of the last century. But the two share many similarities, chief among them a constant need for refinement and evolution in service of mankind. So, when a team of University of Illinois researchers set out to create a robot that would help optimize agriculture and crop management, it was a natural fit.