New Zealand-based agritech company Robotics Plus has launched its autonomous multi-use, modular vehicle platform for agriculture.
It's designed to carry out a variety of orchard and vineyard machine tasks - to alleviate ongoing labour shortages and transform the industry.
The multi-purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicle can be supervised in a fleet of vehicles by a single human operator. The vehicle uses a combination of vision systems and other technologies to sense the environment - to optimise tasks and allow intelligent and targeted application of inputs such as sprays.
Growers will be able to rotate multiple tools on the highly adaptable and configurable agriculture platform, depending on the day’s work - for jobs such as spraying, weed control, mulching, mowing and crop analysis.
Robotics Plus, a specialist in the design and build of robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous machines, unveiled its demonstration vehicle at FIRA USA 2022, a California-based event dedicated to autonomous agriculture and agricultural robotics solutions for the North American market.
Steve Saunders
Robotics Plus co-founder and CEO Steve Saunders explained that its world-class team worked alongside growers, researchers, and best-in-class technology suppliers to deliver the unique modular architecture for its multi-purpose UGV, which can operate in a range of environments.
“We’ve created a flexible agricultural platform with the power to adapt to different crop types with tools for various applications, providing year-round automation benefits and maximising machine utilisation.
“To adapt and thrive in a changing world and create a sustainable and competitive future in the agricultural and speciality tree crop sector - growers and orchardists need automation that solves real-world problems, reduces reliance on increasingly costly and hard-to-find machine operators and provides data-driven insights for informed decision-making.”
Robotics Plus has developed multiple autonomous systems for use in agriculture and automation for intelligent fruit-packing to address significant industry issues, including global labor shortages, rising costs, and yield security.
In addition, its robotic automatic log scaling machines are transforming port logistics with improved safety and productivity.
Robotics Plus’ fast-growing team developed the modular platform UGV at its Tauranga base, with extensive testing in New Zealand and the US in various environments and applications. Robotics Plus investors include Yamaha Motor Company and New Zealand’s ACC Impact Fund.
