Robohub.org
 

Agricultural robot market anticipated to reach $16.3 billion by 2020


by
01 February 2014



share this:
Ag-Robot_560_375_80_s_c1

In a new $7,800 report by Wintergreen Research, significant growth is anticipated over the remainder of this decade in every aspect of farming, milking, food production and animal control.

Automated and robotic processes will achieve crop-yield increases, alleviate illegal worker practices, reduce the use of herbicides and can open up agriculture to 24 hour days.

Agricultural robotics market size at $817 million in 2013 is anticipated to reach $16.3 billion by 2020, a hefty growth for a nascent market. Agricultural robots are but part of an overall trend toward more automated process for every type of human endeavor. Robots are being used more widely than expected in a variety of sectors, and the trend is likely to continue with robotics becoming as ubiquitous as computer technology over the next 15 years.

40 companies and research agencies are present in the marketplace and are mentioned in the report.

Examples of uses of agricultural robots:

  • Automated harvesting systems
  • Automated weed control
  • Herding robots
  • Autonomous navigation in the fields
  • Robotic mowing, pruning, seeding, spraying and thinning
  • Robots in forestry
  • Robots in nurseries
  • UAS for surveying, precision ag, spraying, monitoring
  • Cooperative robots for weeding, seeding and spraying
  • Integration with agricultural management software
  • Autonomous Plowing
  • Rowcrop, vineyard, orchard and dairy applications
  • Unmanned and cabless tractors
  • Combination vision systems
  • Wireless and GPS nodes over farmlands
  • Sorting and packing

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.



tags: ,


Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.
Frank Tobe is the owner and publisher of The Robot Report, and is also a panel member for Robohub's Robotics by Invitation series.





Related posts :



Robot Talk Episode 135 – Robot anatomy and design, with Chapa Sirithunge

  28 Nov 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Chapa Sirithunge from University of Cambridge about what robots can teach us about human anatomy, and vice versa.

Learning robust controllers that work across many partially observable environments

  27 Nov 2025
Exploring designing controllers that perform reliably even when the environment may not be precisely known.

Human-robot interaction design retreat

  25 Nov 2025
Find out more about an event exploring design for human-robot interaction.

Robot Talk Episode 134 – Robotics as a hobby, with Kevin McAleer

  21 Nov 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Kevin McAleer from kevsrobots about how to get started building robots at home.

ACM SIGAI Autonomous Agents Award 2026 open for nominations

  19 Nov 2025
Nominations are solicited for the 2026 ACM SIGAI Autonomous Agents Research Award.

Robot Talk Episode 133 – Creating sociable robot collaborators, with Heather Knight

  14 Nov 2025
In the latest episode of the Robot Talk podcast, Claire chatted to Heather Knight from Oregon State University about applying methods from the performing arts to robotics.

CoRL2025 – RobustDexGrasp: dexterous robot hand grasping of nearly any object

  11 Nov 2025
A new reinforcement learning framework enables dexterous robot hands to grasp diverse objects with human-like robustness and adaptability—using only a single camera.



 

Robohub is supported by:




Would you like to learn how to tell impactful stories about your robot or AI system?


scicomm
training the next generation of science communicators in robotics & AI


 












©2025.05 - Association for the Understanding of Artificial Intelligence