Danish start-up AgriRobot, which develops safety software for autonomous agricultural vehicles, has joined a new project to advance farm robotics across Europe.
The AgRibot project, which has received a €4.97 million grant from the European Commission, hopes to address some of the most pressing challenges in European agriculture. These include labour shortages, unsafe working conditions, and demand for enhanced productivity and greater sustainability.
Over the next four years, the Agibot project will develop and field-test six state-of-the-art robotic systems throughout Europe. The aim is to demonstrate their adaptability to a variety of agricultural operations, including weed management, precision spraying, harvesting, and pruning.
Unharvested crops and rising labour costs
The particular challenges faced by Europe’s agricultural sector include a fatality rate 233% higher than other industries, and a rapidly declining workforce projected to drop from over 10 million in 2010 to just 7.9 million by 2030. This labour shortage leads to unharvested crops, rising labour costs, and reduced food availability, driving sharp price increases.
The AgRibot project plans to address these issues by automating labour-intensive tasks, improving safety, and enhancing working conditions, making agriculture more attractive to younger generations.
AgriRobo, which last year raised more than €2.5 million in its latest funding round, believes it is well placed to transform traditional farming practices.
The company integrates augmented and extended reality AR/XR technologies to improve farmer training, support operations in real-time, and foster better interaction between humans and machines.
It brings its expertise in autonomous robotics to the project, focusing on the development of certifiable software that ensures safe, reliable, and efficient operation of agricultural robots without the need for human supervision.
By enhancing machine autonomy and safety protocols, it says its technology will help accelerate the adoption of robotic solutions across Europe.
“Labour shortage is a major challenge for the agricultural sector globally, and we see autonomous robotics being a valuable solution to this, especially as there are a wide range of applications for these machines.” said Henrik Lynge Jacobsen, co-founder of AgriRobot.
The project is also developing tools to help farmers measure the economic, environmental, social costs and benefits of these innovations, promote beneficial adoption of smart farming technologies and showcase potential positive impacts on resource efficiency, pesticide reduction, and labour savings.
Technologically advanced and practically viable solutions
Alongside AgriRobot, the project includes smart spraying robotics specialist Ecorobotix and telecoms giant Nova Telecommunications.
This multidisciplinary group ensures that the project delivers innovative solutions that are technologically advanced and practically viable, benefiting farmers across Europe.
“AgRibot is a transformative project for European agriculture, combining robotics, artificial intelligence, and augmented/extended reality to revolutionise farming practices,” said Gregory Mygdakos, AgRibot’s project coordinator.
“By leveraging these cutting-edge technologies, we are tackling today’s challenges while shaping a future of smarter, safer, and more sustainable agriculture. Our mission is to deliver robotic solutions that will empower farmers, improve efficiency, adaptability, and environmental responsibility.”
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