Are Ag Robots Ready? 27 Companies Profiled

This article profiles 27 of the many companies (from conglomerates to start-ups) attempting to provide robotic solutions for farming problems and explores what they are doing, when their products will be available, and at what cost.

Frank Tobe | The Robot Report

11/14/14, 08:11 AM | Industrial Robotics, Other Topics

Agriculture is one of our most important industries. It provides food, feed and fuel necessary for our survival. With the global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production must double to meet the demand. And because of limited arable land, productivity must increase 25% to help meet that goal.

Consider these factoids:

Major US farming conglomerates are buying foreign land and beginning to farm there citing lower overall cost.
China is buying land in Africa and sending skilled workers to supervise those new farms.
Farmers and ranchers the world over are transitioning to precision agricultural methods, i.e., subdividing their acreage into many sub-plots, in some cases, right down to the individual plant/tree/animal thereby enabling increased productivity and lower overall costs.
Unmanned aerial vehicles are being used to map, observe, sense and spray.
Unmanned (or at least autonomous) ground vehicles are providing more precise movements and thereby enabling precision practices.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 2012 median pay for farm workers was $9.09.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were 749,400 ag workers in 2012, down 3% (25,000) from 2011.
74% - approximate number of crop workers in the US who were born in Mexico or Central America of which more than half are likely to be undocumented (according to Fortune Magazine).
Cropdusters have the 3rd highest fatality rate among professions in the US. 90% of crop spraying in Japan is done using small unmanned helicopters.

Thus the agricultural industry is in transition. And that transition differs country by country, state by state, region by region as well as by type of farming practiced: from primitive to conventional to precision to experimental. A little bit of everything is going on everywhere but the general trend worldwide is toward precision agriculture supplemented by advanced technologies including robotics.

Many factors are precipitating these changes in addition to global population growth and the cost and availability of labor: the diminishing availability and increasing cost of water, political and regulatory procedures and hold-ups; limited tillable acreage; better, cheaper and faster technological automation products; and climate change, to name just a few.

Modern farmers and ranchers are already high-tech. Digitally-controlled farm implements are regularly in use. There are partially and fully automatic devices for most aspects of agricultural functions from grafting to planting, from harvesting to sorting, packaging and boxing. Farmers use software systems and aerial survey maps and data to guide their field operations. They also use auto-steer systems included in many new tractors (or buy kits that do the same thing) which follow GPS and software guidance. Some farmers are already transitioning some of their operations to full autonomy. Thus forward-thinking farm owners today may be able to skip over slow, incremental improvements and jump directly to robotic and autonomous automation. But are the robots ready?

In a follow-up to my July, 2014 article “Will agricultural robots arrive in time to keep fruit and vegetable costs down?” this article profiles 27 of the many companies (from conglomerates to start-ups) attempting to provide robotic solutions for farming problems and explores what they are doing, when their products will be available, and at what cost.

[NOTE: From a list of 60 organizations involved with agricultural robotics, dairy was eliminated even though robotic milking systems are amazing and a growing business. Also eliminated were companies that didn't (or couldn't because they are publicly traded such as John Deere and CNH Industrial (Case/New Holland)) respond to my brief questionaire. Further, only one of the many university ag research facilities was profiled even though there's a lot of rich science under development; I wanted to focus on the here and now; not the future.]

Companies Mentioned sorted by primary function:

Harvesting and Tractors - Tractors do two things: provide guidance to the devices they are towing, and pulling power. Current tractors are huge and if they break down, the entire operation comes to a halt. Autonomous machines don't need operators and can operate around the clock. Thus tight operational windows can be achieved for seeding and other time-sensitive activities.

Planting, Pruning, Potting, Grafting and Nursery Operations

Thinning and Weeding

UAS, Inspection, Data Collection and Data Manipulation - UAVs are only as good as the other precision ag equipment and systems; if there are no computers on the tractors or controllers on the implements towed, and if they can't talk to each other, UAS data collected is just pretty pictures.

Smart Implements - New implements incorporate advanced control systems and can respond to commands from the towing tractor or provide their own mobility and navigation.

Agriculture is big business in every country around the world. Thus this is a timely review of the progress to bring robotic automation to an already automated industry. Bottom line: lots of activity, much of which will be coming online in the next year or two, but little market penetration thus far.

Company Profiles:

Company: ISO Group, a Flier Systems company, Gameren, The Netherlands
Website: www.isogroepmachinebouw.nl
Product: RoBoPlant flower planting robot and fully and semi-autonomous grafting robots

ISO Group's flower planting robot RoBoPlant

Area of use: All over the EU
Function: Semi and full automatic machinery for greenhouse or protected horticulture. Flower planting robotic system takes flats of peat seedlings, separates them and plants them in chosen patterns;
Testing: Continual testing and development
Availability: Began selling products in 2002
Price: N/A

Companies Mentioned sorted by primary function:

Company Profiles:

The content & opinions in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of RoboticsTomorrow

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