- March 29, 2024
- AI in Business
Robotic technology in agriculture is not a groundbreaking concept. We observed machinery for harvesting apples and berries, killing weeds, planting trees, moving crops, and more. Beyond these core functions, however, there is a commonality with broader technological advances: the importance of data. The significant value of these innovations is often attributed to the vast amount of relevant data collected by their embedded sensors.
Orchard Robotics significantly simplifies the process by eliminating middlemen. That’s not to say that automating these tasks isn’t valuable, especially during labor shortages. A new company is making the technology more accessible by introducing a sensor module that can be attached to current farm equipment such as tractors.
Many farmers are ready to adopt technological solutions that promise to increase their productivity and solve staffing problems for hard-to-fill positions, but the high costs associated with fully automated robotic systems may deter initial investment.
With a particular focus on apple orchards, Orchard’s technology uses cameras to capture up to 100 images per second, capturing the details of every tree it encounters. Their Orchard OS software then uses artificial intelligence to transform this data into detailed maps, noting the location, number, and even color of each bud or fruit identified on the trees.
Charlie Wu, the company’s founder and CEO, emphasized the importance of their technology: “Our cameras document the entire growth cycle from bud to harvest, using sophisticated computer vision and artificial intelligence to collect accurate data on hundreds of millions of fruits. an advance over traditional sample-based data collection methods that can only cover about 100 fruits.”
With built-in GPS, growers can get a complete picture of their orchard’s performance with accurate tree location and size data within inches. Founded in 2022 at Cornell University, the company, despite its recent establishment, has already begun field trials with manufacturers, showing promising results that have attracted the attention of investors.
This week, the Seattle-headquartered startup announced a $3.2 million seed funding round, primarily backed by General Catalyst. Other participants included Humba Ventures, Soma Capital, Correlation Ventures, VU Venture Partners, and Genius Ventures after an initial undisclosed $600,000 in pre-seed funding. The funds will be used to expand the team, further research and development, and accelerate the company’s go-to-market efforts.
