# A tree-planting robot for the National Engineering Robotics Contest

> A competition robot that follows a line grid with a QTR-8A array and PID control, and places tree-marked blocks with its own mechanism.

Page: https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/work/tree-planting-robot/
Published by: WhiteHat Design Studio
Last updated: 7 November 2026

Competition robot

A competition robot that follows a grid of lines, works out where to plant and places tree-marked blocks, built for NERC between September 2023 and April 2024.

A hardware

![The tree-planting robot, a compact wheeled frame of boards and wiring, carrying two small wooden blocks on the contest arena's grid.](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/_astro/nerc-robot.q81i0jMR_ZrULgI.jpg)

The robot on the arena, carrying its blocks.

## What is the tree-planting robot?

The tree-planting robot is a competition robot WhiteHat Design Studio built for the National Engineering Robotics Contest. The contest set a planting course: a walled arena, a grid of black lines and blocks marked as trees. The robot had to find its way around the grid and put each block where it belonged.

- **Type:** Competition robot
- **Built by:** WhiteHat Design Studio
- **Sector:** Competition robotics
- **Inputs:** A hardware
- **Built with:** QTR-8A line sensor array, PID control, grid map selection, purpose-built payload mechanism
- **Does:** Follows the arena's lines, plans on a grid and places blocks with its own mechanism.

## How the tree-planting robot works.

### Plan on a grid

The robot selects a grid map for the course, which sets the route to each planting position.

### Follow the route

A QTR-8A sensor array reads the black lines, and PID control keeps the robot on them.

### Plant

A purpose-built mechanism carries the tree-marked blocks and places them in the arena.

![The NERC arena, a white floor with a black line grid, with the robot and tree-marked blocks at different positions.](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/_astro/nerc-arena.Bdf0xtVr_Z25PhpP.jpg)

The contest arena.

![Close view of the robot's payload mechanism holding a wooden block, on the grid.](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/_astro/nerc-payload.DfdHG9QO_10U4FU.jpg)

The payload mechanism.

![The robot moving along the grid lines between blocks inside the walled arena.](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/_astro/nerc-navigation.BmvYNSb9_h4Trb.jpg)

Navigating on the grid.

## On film.

Clips from the log. They have no sound, and each one says what happens.

[Tree-planting robot, arena run. Video without sound, 30 seconds.](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/media/clips/nerc-arena.mp4)

0:30, no soundFilmed from above, the robot follows the black grid lines of the contest arena and moves between the tree-marked blocks set out on the course.

## Questions about the tree-planting robot

### What does the tree-planting robot do?

It follows a grid of lines on the contest arena, works out where to plant and places tree-marked blocks with its own mechanism.

### How does it follow the course?

A QTR-8A sensor array reads the black lines, and PID control keeps the robot on them.

## Recognition

- Best Engineering Design Award at the National Engineering Robotics Contest, selected from 22 teams.

## What we do not claim

- This is a competition prototype, built for the contest arena and its rules.

## Sources

- [TechXpert engineering portfolio, tree-planting robot](https://www.techxpert.io/portfolio)

Published 5 November 2026, updated 7 November 2026.

## Read further

- [Hardware: robotics and embedded systems design](https://www.whitehatdesignstudio.com/services/hardware/)

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