From October 2nd to 6th, 2024, Director Chen Leping, head of NERCIEA and NERCITA, led a team of researchers, including Senior Researcher Zhang Rui Rui and Dr. Zhang Linhuan, to Japan to attend the 2024 Tsukuba Global Science Week (TGSW 2024) and to conduct academic exchanges at the University of Tsukuba and Kyoto University.

The Tsukuba Global Science Week is an international academic exchange conference jointly organized by universities and research institutes within the Tsukuba Academic and Research Park. This year's event featured 23 thematic sessions covering agriculture, materials, energy, medical science, and space science, attracting over 1000 experts and scholars from around the world. The theme of the agricultural session was "Sustainable Orchard Management Technologies and Strategies in the Context of Climate Change." Dr. Zhang Linhuan presented a talk titled "Key Technologies and Equipment Development for Aerial and Ground Collaborative Spraying Robotics in Orchards," showcasing research progress in drone application, ground navigation, precision spraying, and air-ground collaborative navigation and application in orchards. Director Chen Leping displayed a poster titled "YOLOv5s-CEDB: A Robust and Efficient Camellia oleifera Fruit Detection Algorithm in Complex Natural Scenes," and Senior Researcher Zhang Rui Rui presented a poster on "UAV-SfM Photogrammetry for Canopy Characterization toward UASS Precision Chemical Application of Orchard," highlighting the center's achievements in intelligent tea harvesting and precision chemical application in orchards. They engaged in academic exchanges with experts from National Taiwan University, Universiti Putra Malaysia, and the University of the Philippines.

On October 4th, Director Chen and his team visited the Bioproduction Machinery Laboratory at the University of Tsukuba and exchanged ideas with Professor Tofael Ahamed and his team. Professor Ahamed introduced his team's research outcomes in smart agriculture and demonstrated unmanned technologies, driverless tractors, and orchard protection robots at the Tsukuba University experimental farm. The two sides had in-depth discussions on hot topics in smart agriculture technology, trial base construction and management, orchard agronomic standards and application of small agricultural machinery, key technologies for orchard unmanned protection, and potential future cooperation models.

On October 5th, Director Chen and his team visited the Agricultural System Engineering Laboratory at Kyoto University's Faculty of Agriculture and engaged in discussions with Professor Noguchi Ryozo. Director Chen introduced the center's research achievements in smart agriculture and intelligent agricultural machinery, Senior Researcher Zhang Rui Rui presented the center's findings in drone protection technology, and Dr. Zhang Linhuan discussed the center's work on orchard air-ground collaboration and intelligent tea harvesting. Professor Noguchi shared the current state of development of biomass energy and low-carbon green production technology and equipment in Japan, as well as the laboratory's latest results in green protection and intelligent detection in orchards. Both sides explored potential collaborative research, joint application for international cooperation projects, and exchange visits for young researchers, reaching a preliminary intention for cooperation.