Selling robots directly to farmers may not deliver fastest transformation
Direct sales may not be the best approach to bring about mass adoption of agricultural robots.
That’s the view of international researchers who suggest that alternatives such as selling a service based on robotics or leasing could be more effective ways of building the market for these labour-saving technologies.
The need for commercial agricultural robots to be robust, with specialised hardware, means that up-front costs can be high, the researchers said in a report published in Smart Agricultural Technology. Revenues are also less predictable through direct sales for newer companies which have not built up a significant reputation, with companies sustaining themselves through their first years of operation their biggest test.
They noted the example of Vitirover, which offers a grass cutting service without selling or leasing robots to customers. Its swarm robotics system works in a variety of different field settings, first calculating how many robots are needed to hit certain cutting times. An advantage of it owning its own fleet of robots, the authors suggested, is that they can re-test their system in a real setting to optimise performance.
Mix of approaches possible?
While leasing arrangements can offer affordable services to farmers, they also have their down-sides for new market entrants, the authors said — in particular the need for a large fleet of robots which are ready to use.
The Oz robot from Naïo Technologies is another model commented on in the report. Designed to complement manual labour on organic farms, its relatively simple navigation needs meant it could be directly sold to farmers at a competitive price of $70,000, the researchers noted. It has since become well-established in France, they said, in part due to the price and support of numerous subsidies available, but also as the company broadened its approach to include leasing, to enable wider familiarity with the product.
No simple factor in success
Although the manner in which new technologies in this emerging market are offered to potential customers is influential on their ultimate success, a wider range of factors are involved, the researchers said.
Looking at examples from the surgical robotics sector, commonalities in companies thriving included securing patents and intensive R&D, addressing niche markets to build market share, creating a platform to allow the development of new services for customers and targeting government goals and subsidies.
You can read the full report in Smart Agricultural Technology.
This article first appeared on Farming Future Food
