For the fourth consecutive year, Future Farming magazine has released its comprehensive overview of field and harvest robots for outdoor crop production. This year’s edition features 60 different robots that are commercially available and can be purchased or leased at publicly known prices.
The catalogue, which was first published in 2020, has steadily expanded over the years. Last year, it listed 50 commercially available and publicly priced field and harvest robots. This year’s edition showcases the diversity and volatility of the landscape, with the majority of the market still dominated by startups and scaleups.
Some of the early field robots are now being succeeded by a new generation or alternative models. Naïo Technologies, a field robotics pioneer, has introduced the Orio as a successor to their Dino, while AgroIntelli will be favoring their latest Robotti LR model over their initial 150D model.
However, not all manufacturers have made it into this year’s buyers’ guide. Four manufacturers, Elatec, H2Trac, InsightTRAC, and Lapalme, are no longer listed. Elatec will be focusing on an intelligent tool that can be mounted on market garden robots, H2Trac went bankrupt and restarted under a different name, InsightTRAC chose to be removed from the catalogue, and Lapalme sold the IP of their broccoli harvesting robot to Sami Agtech.
Despite these changes, the number of robots in operation has seen significant growth. The catalogue includes updates from manufacturers on the number of active units in the market. The reported numbers show a growth of 46 to 62 percent in all three categories compared to last year. Additionally, there are 11 new robots in the catalogue, accounting for 8.5 percent of the total number of 2,443 field and harvest robots currently operational.
The increasing presence of field and harvest robots is not surprising, as they have become a necessity for farmers worldwide. These robots help address labor shortages and restrictions on the use of crop protection chemicals. Farmers expect these robots to perform tasks as well as or better than existing machinery and human labor. Therefore, a catalogue with commercially available and priced robots is essential for farmers to make informed decisions.
The catalogue also provides farmers with testimonials from other farmers who have experienced the benefits of using field robots. These testimonials highlight how field robots have helped produce bigger, higher-quality, and more uniform crops.
In this year’s edition, the robots are divided into three categories: multipurpose robots, specialized robots, and harvest robots. Multipurpose robots can perform multiple tasks, specialized robots focus on a single task, and harvest robots autonomously harvest outdoor crops.
Out of the 60 robots listed in the catalogue, 37 are multipurpose, 19 are specialized, and 4 are harvest robots. The multipurpose category offers the most alternatives, with an increasing number of manufacturers developing small two-track vehicles that can replace compact, orchard/vineyard, or standard tractors.
As the field and harvest robot market continues to grow, the catalogue serves as a valuable resource for farmers looking to adopt autonomous farming technologies. It provides farmers with the necessary information to choose the right robot for their specific needs and showcases the advancements in agricultural robotics that are transforming the industry.