Startup Daily TV: How agtech robotics venture Agerris is using AI to automate farming

Field robotics company Agerris is commercialising robotic agricultural equipment and AI solutions on farms.

Agerris launched in April 2019 with one of Australia’s largest AgTech seed funds, spun out of the University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics. The team there has secured nearly $30 million in R&D, prototype and operational funding from horticulture, grazing livestock, grains and cotton RDCs, as well as environmental agencies.

Agerris had developed two key products.

The Digital Farmhand (pictured above) is a versatile solar-electric robot for a range of agricultural uses that can be remotely controlled or run in autonomous mode. It has a battery life of 7-10 hours (up to 15 hours with solar panels) and the power to carry / tow up to 200kg. Its onboard AI offers customised environmental intelligence that can turn for a range of functions, from digital chippy, to plant adviser, sprayer, mapper, yield estimator, and one day, a digital harvester.

Swagbot is a all-terrain crop and pasture monitor, as well as weed seeker and destroyer that can safely navigate around both mobile and stationary obstacles.

The company’s AI-based Crop Intelligence software offers a wealth of information ranging from weed heat maps, yield count and size estimation.

Agerris was one of five Australian startups among 45 global ventures chosen for Rabobank’s global food and agri startup ‘discovery program’ FoodBytes!

The business made it all the way into the final 15 startups selected to take part in the Rabobank FoodBytes! Pitch 2020 competition.

Agerris CEO Salah Sukkarieh, who is also Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney, talked about his agtech startup on the Startup Daily show on ausbiz recently. You can watch the clip below.

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