A drone-powered system built by five University of Tulsa seniors may help revolutionize how America’s small cattle farmers track and care for their herds. The solution won second place in a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 2025 AgAir Aviation Solutions competition in Palmdale, California. The team’s solution, the CattleLog Cattle Management System, was one of the finalists selected to present at the NASA 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition.
Other finalists selected were: Auburn University, Boston University, Columbia University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Houston Community College, South Dakota State University, and University of California Davis.
Sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, the competition asked for a solution that would create a new or improved aviation project to support agriculture by 2035. The end goal was to create different solutions from each university that would enhance sustainability, resources, and production in the agriculture industry.
The CattleLog team started by determining what specific problem they wanted to solve. It was by chance that a team member’s family are local cattle farmers in Oklahoma.