Robots have been a familiar sight on factory floors for decades, but now they’re headed for greener pastures. Agricultural drones, self-driving tractors and seed-planting robots could help prevent labour shortages and an impending global food crisis.
The promise of producing more crops with less effort and less impact on the environment is leading to bullish predictions. Industry pundits expect the global agricultural robotics market to surpass US$81 billion by 2028.
But farmers have been slow to embrace the robotic revolution: less than 6 percent of the world’s 3 million industrial robots are currently used on agricultural lands.
