Food & Beverage

AGRICULTURAL ROBOTICS and automation company, Robotics Plus, has received a USD8M boost from Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. (Japan) to support its ‘ambitious’ growth plans. The investment brings Yamaha Motor’s total investment in Robotics Pus to USD10M, following a partnership agreement and investment of USD2M announced in March 2018.

Co-Founder and Chairman of Robotics Plus, Steve Saunders, said the partnership will support the company’s vision to grow into a truly New Zealand, global business that will transform a number of industries. Saunders is currently establishing a US subsidiary for the company.

“This investment will allow us to take the company to the next level and attract and retain the world class talent we need. To stay ahead of the opportunity, we need to scale quickly, not just with our apple packers that are already in market, but also with our new UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) platform technology and other projects under development.”

Hiro Saijo, CEO of Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, said the investment would help his company reach its goal to make agriculture more sustainable, healthy, and secure. “To meet the significant and increasing agriculture demands of today and tomorrow, including agricultural labour shortage globally, we need to create sophisticated and precision robotics and automation technologies that will transform the agricultural industries,” he said.

To accelerate the development of their next generation automation solutions, Robotics Plus said it will leverage Yamaha Motor’s experience, knowledge and technologies in outdoor vehicles, factory automation, robotics, design for manufacturing and manufacturing.

“We have a highly skilled development team located close to orchards and other agricultural environments. We can rapidly prototype new ideas, validate new components and integrate these into our robotic systems. This will also create new opportunities to develop technologies in other markets, too,” stated Dr Matt Glenn, CEO of Robotics Plus.

In May, Robotics Plus’ robotic Āporo apple packers were the first in a suite of technologies to be commercially launched. The apple packer, which identifies and places apples in display trays, can safely handle up to 120 fruit per minute. It is being marketed by Global Pac Technologies, a Jenkins Group (NZ/Australia) and Van Doren Sales (US) joint venture and is already operating in packhouses in New Zealand and the USA.

Other technologies under development to address major issues in the horticulture industry caused by labour shortages and increasing consumer demand for fresh fruit, include: an autonomous agricultural vehicle, robotic kiwifruit harvester, robotic pollinator, crop estimator, and a number of confidential projects.

Saunders says his Māori heritage has played a role in Robotics Plus’ development. “Our core values of ‘he aronga nui’ (pioneering), ‘manaakitanga’ (collaboration), ‘tika me te pono’ (principled) and ‘kaitiakitangi’ (stewardship) resonate with Yamaha Motor’s values. We have a common desire to meet future challenges to feed the world in a sustainable way with smart automation and intelligent robotics.

“This partnership and going global is truly exciting. The institutional knowledge Yamaha Motor brings creates a fantastic opportunity to develop our great young talent out of

New Zealand.”

Robotics Plus believes it is well-positioned to deliver on its vision to be a world leader in robotics and automation technology for the food and fibre industries.

“In addition to Yamaha Motor, we also have commercial partnerships with Global Pac Technologies, ISO Limited and Trimax. We’ve also established valuable collaborative research relationships with the University of Waikato, the University of Auckland, Massey University and Plant & Food Research, and we are a founding partner of PlantTech, an industry-led research organisation based in the Western Bay of Plenty,” said Dr Glenn.

“Our innovation and growth plans are well supported by our private investors as well as New Zealand Government agencies, Callaghan Innovation, NZTE, MBIE, MPI and TPK.”