Multi-use autonomous vehicle for sustainable orchard and vineyard production launches in US
New Zealand-based agritech company Robotics Plus has this week (21 September) launched Prospr, an autonomous, multi-use, hybrid vehicle designed to carry out a variety of orchard and vineyard crop tasks.
Prospr is now commercially available from Robotics Plus, a specialist in the design and build of innovative agricultural robotics.
Prospr accommodates multiple swappable tools being developed, including newly released tower sprayers for grapes, apples, or tree crops. The right tool for the job is attached to the vehicle depending on the day’s work, and multiple Prosprs can collaborate in a fleet to get the job done.
The autonomous vehicle uses a combination of perception systems to sense the environment, enabling data-driven insights.
Robotics Plus showcased Prospr for the first time at FIRA 2023 this week, a California-based event dedicated to autonomous agriculture and agricultural robotics solutions, with the first vehicles rolling out to customers this month.
Steve Saunders, co-founder and chief executive at Robotics Plus says the agriculture industry faces unprecedented challenges as this generation works to produce more food sustainably while reducing emissions and supplying at a lower cost.
“Prospr is a robust autonomous vehicle, with all-day running, that adapts to the jobs growers need to do while reducing emissions, inputs and reliance on increasingly hard-to-find machine operators.
”We’ve focussed on utilisation and flexibility with a unique modular architecture, allowing different tools for various crop types and applications year-round to maximise return on investment.”
Machines can be managed simultaneously by one or two operators from a single remote control via a fixed or mobile console.
