Agriculture

Every automation business or user of robotics wants to know where the technology and markets are heading. Here are our predictions.

Algorithms and programming advances provide exciting possibilities for the drone industry in the next decade.

From addressing labor shortages to increasing crop yields, agribots are set to aid farmers next year.

Agriculture, drone systems, and mobile robot makers scoop up investments around the world.

Second investment spurs growth for agricultural automation and robotics operation; Robotics Plus eyes U.S. subsidiary.

Companies that use commercial drones in the air and underground earned big investments in recent weeks.

FAA reauthorization bill changes and LAANC deployment completion will likely spur more commercial drone testing.

Robot restaurants, aerial analytics, and awesome exoskeleton firms also score big this week.

The July 4 holiday week saw funding for companies developing self-driving capabilities for vehicles, robots, and other devices.

Companies with FAA Rule 107 waivers offer insights on commercial drone applications.

Consumers worldwide have different expectations for tabletop grapes than for wine grapes, so harvesting robots must use machine learning to pick the right ones and ensure quality.

An AI strategy can be directed by the central government, focus on regional hubs, or pursue a particular niche market. In addition, we look at how machine learning can be localized.

From IBM’s forecast of the future and virtual reality to advice for startups, check out RBR’s most popular robotics news and analysis pieces of the past month.

Scientists have been copying nature to develop pollination drones that can assist real bees and human farmers.

AI funding takes the top seed this week, but self-driving cars and drones stay in the game.

Agricultural drones include heavy-lift ones for crop dusting, drones with multispectral sensors for surveying crop health, and new ways of monitoring crops and livestock. This infographic from Dronefly looks at the state of agricultural drones.

Spring is on the way, with drone and IoT matches, a big ETF purchase, and industrial automation the subject of the past week’s robotics transactions.

We can see clearly now that automation transactions in early 2018 will build on a familiar pattern of investment in AI, the mobility market, and industrial automation. The question remains as to which companies will lead and which will be absorbed or fall behind.

This week’s Robot Investments Weekly looks at companies that successfully raised funds for aerial drones, driverless vehicles, and AI for business use.

The SKYF drone, from ARDN Technology, is intended to be easy and safe to use. It is also designed to have an endurance of up to eight hours in the air.

In this Essential Interview excerpt, the CEO of Autonomous Solutions discusses his experience working up in robotics, ASI’s unique business model, and challenges facing mobile robots.

As end users are more concerned with big data than hardware, drones as a service can help many industries. Governments and businesses of all sizes are likely adopters.

Submit your paper for our 2018 conference in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. As part of the second International Robotics Week, the RoboBusiness Europe conference and exhibition has issued a call for papers 2018.

The European and international unmanned systems community gathered at the TUS Nordics 2017 event in Odense, Denmark, this month. One end user discussed how more autonomous drones would be helpful for precision agriculture.

The UAS Denmark International Test Center & Cluster is intended to be hub for European drone testing, with friendly government regulation, access to university research, and an entrepreneurial ecosystem.