Event took place in virtual format due to the pandemic of Covid-19

The group of students from Feevale University who won the national stage of the Renault Experience challenge participated on Wednesday, 9, in the international stage of the event, the Challenge Twizy Global Contest of Renault. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event, which would take place in France, was held in virtual format. Through the efforts of the Innovation Directorate and the Institute of Creative and Technological Sciences (ICCT), the academics Niklaus Lauxen and Gustavo Siebel, from the Electronic Engineering course, Paulo César Junior, from the Production Engineering course, and Vinicius Wilbert, graduated in Design from Feevale, formed FarmTwizy.

The team developed a 3D model and designed it through virtual reality for the prototype visualization. The group developed the first prototype of the solution, which has an integrative software, responsible for helping the farmer in the management of the crop. The main tools of the project are a drone and a mini laboratory, which provide the data for the software to process and interpret the information, with the goal of guiding the producer in decision making.

It was a great satisfaction to represent Brazil and present our project to all the people involved. The feeling that remains is of an accomplished mission, of having done our best, and having presented great results in ways we have accomplished, even in this turbulent year", highlights Lauxen. "We intend to continue developing this startup and make it a company. We will always try to innovate so that, with the use of technology, we can offer a product that makes the agribusiness market evolve", he adds.

In addition to the victory in the Renault Experience and participation in renault's Global Twizy Contest Challenge, the team was incubated at Softex, a Civil Social Organization of Public Interest (Oscip) that has been working for 24 years to promote Brazilian digital change, and is also in process for pre-incubation at Feevale Techpark.

It is already the second year that a Feevale team participates in the international stage of the Renault Experience, and this fact needs to be celebrated. It is part of our task to offer challenges and opportunities, as well as to instrumentalize the learning of our students. Experiences like this exercise the knowledge and skills acquired in the classroom, also bringing engagement to our students," said João Batista Mossmann, director of ICCT.

The leader of the Renault Experience Ambassador Program, Elizangela Camargo, points out that having students participating in this world stage is a source of great pride. "The winners of the national stage, in Brazil, did very well. We did not get the world award, but, of course, the students took the experience of a year of learning, and all the preparation which has already resulted in the conquest of a vacancy in the Softex incubator. I believe in the potential of FarmTwizy, I and hope that a new business model will be born. This will make a difference for the sustainability of the planet", concludes Elizangela.