
Prospr is an autonomous, hybrid car designed to hold out varied orchard and winery duties. | Credit score: Robotics Plus
Yamaha Motor Co. has acquired Robotics Plus Ltd. to seed a brand new agricultural expertise firm referred to as Yamaha Agriculture Inc. It should deal with delivering autonomous tools and synthetic intelligence-powered digital programs to assist growers within the specialty crop market.
Japan-based Yamaha Motor made the strategic acquisitions of Robotics Plus and The Yield Know-how Options to develop and ship robots for various purposes and to use superior analytics and AI to precision farming of wine grapes, apples, and different specialty crops throughout North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
“Guided by our mission to make sure growers are sustainable, worthwhile, and resilient, Yamaha Agriculture acknowledges that the challenges going through specialty crop growers require considerate options that can take time to develop,” said Nolan Paul, group CEO of Yamaha Agriculture. “We consider significant innovation in agriculture emerges by way of shut collaboration with growers and business companions.”
“The capabilities of Robotics Plus in robotics and automation might be an vital constructing block in addressing these challenges, together with AI-powered knowledge analytics,” he added. “We’re dedicated to a deliberate method that prioritizes creating actual worth for growers whereas sustaining the excessive requirements of high quality and reliability for which Yamaha Motors is thought.”
Register at this time to avoid wasting 40% on convention passes!
Robotics Plus offers autonomous agricultural robots
The Yield offers superior knowledge analytics and AI-powered fashions to ship yield predictions and optimize on and off-farm operations. Yamaha Agriculture stated it can mix Prospr with these analytics to assist farmers with data-driven resolution making.
“Establishing Yamaha Agriculture is a pivotal milestone in our Lengthy-Time period Imaginative and prescient 2030 — ART for Human Prospects,” stated Jim Aota, chief technique officer at Yamaha Motor. “This initiative embodies the three core pillars we goal to attain in our 2030 Lengthy-Time period Imaginative and prescient: Advancing robotics, rethinking options, and reworking mobility.”
With Yamaha Motors’ expertise as a producer of high-performance merchandise, it stated the brand new agriculture enterprise will combine The Yield and Robotics Plus’ complementary applied sciences to create a complete platform for precision farming. By combining autonomous tools with clever knowledge insights, Yamaha Agriculture stated it can assist growers cut back enter prices, optimize useful resource utilization, and enhance general productiveness.
Yamaha Agriculture to supply precision agriculture globally

Vineyards are one of many goal markets for the brand new portfolio of options from Yamaha Agriculture. | Credit score: Robotics Plus
Robotics Plus had grown to a crew of 130 individuals, and Saunders stated he expects the brand new firm to proceed scaling worldwide.
“Scale is the important thing to creating expertise extra accessible and reasonably priced for growers in New Zealand and past, so we’re international from Day 1,” he stated. “Partnering early on with a worldwide company that shared our imaginative and prescient allowed us to speed up our enlargement. The Robotics Plus crew has proven it’s potential to construct a world-leading agritech enterprise from New Zealand that may efficiently scale on a worldwide degree.”
“To drive significant change in agriculture, it’s good to assume large and deal with globally scalable challenges,” noticed Dr. Alistair Scarfe, co-founder and chief engineering officer at Robotics Plus. “That mindset has allowed Robotics Plus to construct a world-class crew of specialists throughout agriculture, expertise, and engineering — delivering best-in-class robotic options that are actually deployed worldwide.”
“Over time, we’ve tremendously benefited from Yamaha Motor’s deep business experience, and we’re excited to take our improvements even additional with Yamaha Agriculture with a continued deal with high quality, reliability, and security,” he stated.