Small Robot Company reveals production partner

The autonomous farmbot features a double camera system that captures precise plant data and enables farmers to monitor crops on an individual level. According to SRC, Tom can cover around 20 hectares per day, feeding about six terabytes of data back to an artificial intelligence system known as Wilma, which helps farmers interpret the information. Alongside Tom, SRC has plans for two other robots, called Dick and Harry, which will focus on weed control and planting, respectively.

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Tharsus, which builds Ocado’s warehouse robots for sale overseas, will work with SRC to finesse Tom’s design before producing an initial run of 10 robots. The first of these should be ready in October 2020, with a planned 2,000 hectares being serviced by the fleet come January 2021. Early customers include Waitrose and the National trust, both of which are already part of SRC’s ongoing field trials across 20 UK farms.