Prof. Yi participates in a new research project entitled "Mobile Remote Sensing and Artificial Intelligence-Guided Precision Management Program for Turfgrass Water Conservation" that was recently funded by National Institute of Food and Agriculture through its Specialty Crop Research Initiative. The project focuses on turfgrass stakeholder needs for efficient and water-saving, precision irrigation management (PIM) programs and improving drought resistance of turfgrasses by using new emerging technologies such as robotics and automation, machine learning and image processing. The long-term goal is to improve profitability and reduce water consumption for a sustainable turfgrass industry. The project will be conducted by a transdisciplinary team, including turfgrass scientists and breeders, mechanical/ automation/artificial intelligence engineers, social scientists, economists, and extension specialists cross three institutions: Rutgers University (lead), University of Georgia, and the University of California at Riverside, and Siemens Technology Center in Princeton as the industry partner. The project is led by Professor Bingru Huang in plant biology at Rutgers and is planned for five years. Professor Yi is the only engineer from academia in the team and working with other team members, he is mainly responsible for ground robotics and field sensing and automation technology development for the project.