Robotics & Automation News

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AI in agriculture

Eternal.ag scales fully-autonomous harvesting robots with first customer Van Noord Growers

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The German agritech startup eternal.ag has deployed its fully-autonomous greenhouse harvesting robot, Harvester, to the Dutch grower, Van Noord Growers, as part of a long-term agreement.

Van Noord Growers, located in Zeeland in the Netherlands, produces both tomatoes and cucumbers across a total 8.5-hectare site. It has been operating the Harvester robot, specialized in truss tomatoes, since September 2025 and is now set to expand its fleet to a total of three this summer following a successful initial period.

With eternal.ag’s plug and play approach, the Harvester has been integrated into Van Noord’s operations from day one. The fully-autonomous Harvester is designed to operate for up to 22 hours per day, 7 days a week, and harvests trusses using an AI layer to ensure ripeness, consistency and clean cutting. [Read more…] about Eternal.ag scales fully-autonomous harvesting robots with first customer Van Noord Growers

Nature Robots secures €4 million seed funding to scale software for autonomous farming

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Nature Robots, a technology company founded in Osnabrück in 2022 and a spin-off of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), has closed a seed financing round totaling €4 million.

Participants in the round include Climentum Capital, Bayern Kapital, and Planetary Impact Ventures. With the fresh capital, the company is scaling its modular autonomy software for agricultural machinery, expanding its team, and establishing an additional location in Munich.

Nature Robots develops software that enables agricultural machinery to operate autonomously in large fields, vegetable farming, viticulture and fruit growing, specialty crops, as well as in agri-photovoltaics and agroforestry systems. [Read more…] about Nature Robots secures €4 million seed funding to scale software for autonomous farming

German startup eternal.ag launches fully autonomous harvesting robot to tackle greenhouse labor shortage

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Eternal.ag, a German agritech startup, has launched its first commercial product, Harvester. Harvester is a fully autonomous harvesting robot designed for tomato greenhouses and offers a solution to widespread industry labor shortages.

Greenhouses are increasingly essential for securing the year-round supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, being far more resilient to seasonal weather, climate change, land shortages and pests than outdoor farming.

However, greenhouse labor availability is falling rapidly – in Europe, by as much as 30 percent since 2010 – and forecasts say this trend will continue, leaving growers with structural staffing shortages. [Read more…] about German startup eternal.ag launches fully autonomous harvesting robot to tackle greenhouse labor shortage

Carbon Robotics launches the world’s first-ever large plant model

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Carbon Robotics, a provider of agriculture AI and robotics, says it has achieved a “major breakthrough” for global agriculture with the launch of “the world’s first Large Plant Model (LPM) – the most advanced AI model for plant detection and identification”.

Trained on the largest, most diverse, and fastest growing agricultural dataset ever built with 150 million labeled plants, the LPM enables farmers to start laser weeding any field or crop in minutes.

New capabilities make it simple and fast to personalize the LPM for each farmer’s unique field and crop conditions and update model behavior in real-time. [Read more…] about Carbon Robotics launches the world’s first-ever large plant model

How AI and Robotics Are Redefining Precision Feed Management in Large-Scale Livestock Farms

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In large livestock operations, precision feed management starts with one simple requirement: knowing exactly how much feed is moving through the system.

That is why load cells sit at the center of modern feeding technology. They provide the hard weight data that AI software and robotic feeders depend on to make real decisions.

Mounted under silos, hoppers, and automated dispensers, load cells measure feed depletion in real time. Every kilogram leaving the system is recorded. [Read more…] about How AI and Robotics Are Redefining Precision Feed Management in Large-Scale Livestock Farms

John Deere customers use autonomous ‘See & Spray’ technology across 5 million acres in 2025

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Farm equipment giant John Deere says its “See & Spray” technology, which is a key part of the company’s autonomous offering, was used across “more than 5 million acres of farmland during the 2025 growing season” – a land area larger than the state of New Jersey.

In 2025, John Deere says its customers “reduced non-residual herbicide use by an average of nearly 50 percent – saving nearly 31 million gallons of herbicide mix – demonstrating the power of targeted application, even in a season marked by elevated weed pressure and frequent rains”.

Joshua Ladd, marketing manager for application at John Deere, says: “See & Spray continues to redefine what’s possible in crop protection. [Read more…] about John Deere customers use autonomous ‘See & Spray’ technology across 5 million acres in 2025

Doosan Robotics partners with Daedong to develop advanced technology for agriculture

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Doosan Robotics has signed an agreement with agritech company Daedong to jointly develop on-device AI technology and business collaboration in the agricultural robotics sector.

Under this agreement, the two companies will work together to develop field robots optimized for smart farms and outdoor agricultural environments.

They will also focus on creating and commercializing on-device AI technology that can be applied to unstructured agricultural settings. Furthermore, the collaboration aims to pave the way for expanding into the global market for field robots. [Read more…] about Doosan Robotics partners with Daedong to develop advanced technology for agriculture

Bonsai Robotics unveils new robot for agricultural jobs

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Bonsai Robotics has introduced a new lineup of autonomous agricultural vehicles under its Amiga brand, marking the company’s first major product expansion since acquiring a company called “farm-ng” (sic) in July.

The company debuted the Amiga Flex, described as the first vehicle fully integrated with the company’s “Bonsai Intelligence” software stack. Two additional models – the Amiga Trax and Amiga Max – round out the new range, which aims to automate a variety of labor-intensive field operations.

Each system uses Bonsai’s vision-based autonomy platform to navigate complex farm environments without GPS. [Read more…] about Bonsai Robotics unveils new robot for agricultural jobs

Italian Institute of Technology develops robot for vineyard applications

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The project stems from research at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia), in collaboration with several partners and in the framework of JOiiNT LAB – the joint laboratory between IIT and the Sistema Bergamo

A team of researchers from the Soft Robotics for Human Cooperation and Rehabilitation Lab at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia) in Genova has conceived and developed Frasky, a new robotic prototype able to navigate and perform operations autonomously within vineyards. 

Coordinated by IIT researcher Manuel G. Catalano, the project results from the collaboration with the partners involved in “JOiiNT LAB”, the joint lab aiming at creating a synergy between research and industry, thus comprising IIT and the industrial ecosystem in the Bergamo area, including Consorzio Intellimech, Confindustria Bergamo, the University of Bergamo, and Kilometro Rosso Innovation District. [Read more…] about Italian Institute of Technology develops robot for vineyard applications

Exclusive interview: John Deere deepens its automation strategy

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John Deere has been a consistent force in the agricultural automation space, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with connected machines, autonomous tractors, and AI-powered harvesters.

As Robotics and Automation News has recently reported, the company is evolving on multiple fronts – from launching a new generation of combine harvesters with advanced automation features, to unveiling long-term autonomy plans in exclusive interviews with leaders such as Jesse Haecker.

In a follow-up to our recent feature John Deere: Harvesting the future – automation, autonomy, and the investor landscape and our technical deep-dive Deere unveils new combine harvester with expanded advanced automation, we now speak with Mike Moeller, senior group product manager for connectivity, planning and guidance at John Deere. [Read more…] about Exclusive interview: John Deere deepens its automation strategy