increase font size
The autonomous multi-use, modular vehicle platform for agriculture is designed to carry out a variety of orchard and vineyard tasks and help to alleviate ongoing labour shortages.
Tauranga-based Robotics Plus has launched its autonomous multi-use, modular vehicle platform for agriculture.
It is designed to carry out a variety of orchard and vineyard tasks and help to alleviate ongoing labour shortages within the industry.
The multi-purpose Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), which can be supervised in a fleet of vehicles by a single human operator, uses a combination of vision systems and other technologies to sense the environment. Growers will be able to rotate multiple tools on the adaptable platform, depending on the day’s work, carrying out jobs such as spraying, weed control, mulching, mowing and crop analysis.
“We’ve created a flexible agricultural platform with the power to adapt to different crop types with tools for various applications,” says Steve Saunders, co-founder and chief executive of Robotics Plus.
“Providing year-round automation benefits and maximizing machine utilisation.”
Said to deliver growers and orchardists automation that solves real-world problems, the vehicle reduces reliance on costly and hard-to-find machine operators, while also providing data-driven insights for informed decision-making.
The first application for the technology is intelligent spraying, adapting flow rates to ensure spray efficacy whilst reducing inputs. This is achieved by adjusting spray rates and airspeed in controlled zones as the sprayer moves along orchard or vineyard rows.
Highly manoeuvrable, with a small footprint and unique steering configuration, incorporating independent motors, the UGV can be operated in a range of crops with a minimum row spacing of 1.8m.
This allows for more ground to be covered than machines, which turn on every second row or greater.
Featuring a hybrid electric-diesel drive train, the former offers superior torque and control, whilst a Tier 4 diesel generator means the vehicle can operate for extended periods. Fuel consumption is minimised by electrically driving all systems, including tools.
Regenerative braking and high-capacity batteries also extend efficiency and range. Additionally, the vehicle’s lightweight design and intelligent all-wheeldrive system, with independent wheel motors to ensure grip and control, all reduce ground compaction.
The vehicle has been designed from the ground up to be modular and easy to service.
It has no hydraulic, gearbox or differential fluids to be managed, with vehicles kept running if a part fails by simply swapping out modules when required. Component suppliers include Yamaha, Autonomous Solutions and Croplands, who will offer support in the field.
Robotics Plus 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.
Anyone who has been round baling and released a completed bale on a slope will remember the feeling of dread as the bale gathers speed and rolls off down the hillside, hopefully to be stopped by the hedgerow or the paddock levelling out.
Swiss-based Ecorobotix has announced its entry into the New Zealand market through a strategic partnership with Canterbury-based New Zealand Tractors.
Power Farming has announced a new chapter in its partnership with JCB, which having represented the UK-based company’s construction equipment for over three years, now sees the relationship expanding to include the renowned JCB Agriculture product range.
Access to innovation will benefit New Zealand farmers and growers with a broad toolkit of options.
Farmlands says that improved half-year results show that the co-op’s tight focus on supporting New Zealand’s farmers and growers is working.
Horticulture New Zealand (HortNZ) says that discovery of a male Oriental fruit fly on Auckland’s North Shore is a cause for concern for growers.
Fonterra says its earnings for the 2025 financial year are anticipated to be in the upper half of its previously forecast earnings range of 40-60 cents per share.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) is having another crack at increasing the fees of its chair and board members.
Livestock management tech company Nedap has launched Nedap New Zealand.
An innovative dairy effluent management system is being designed to help farmers improve on-farm effluent practices and reduce environmental impact.
OPINION: Ruth Richardson, architect of the 1991 ‘Mother of all Budgets’ and the economic reforms dubbed ‘Ruthanasia’, added her two…
OPINION: Why do vegans and others opposed to eating meat try to convince others that a plant based diet is…
