Burro said it has raised $10.9 million in Series A funding. The company was formerly known as Augean Robotics Inc. Burro said it plans to “dramatically increase” the size of its staff, expand to more than 500 robots next year, and add capabilities to its autonomous farming products.
In California, where the bulk of specialty crops in the U.S. are grown, the number of farmworkers has declined 40% the past decade because of the strenuous nature of farm labor, increasing regulations, and rising wages.
Burro said that its autonomous farming robots can increase productivity in conventional production environments. Burros feature a patent-pending approach called Pop Up Autonomy, which means they work immediately out of the box by enabling everyone in a working environment to become an operator.
The autonomous farming robots do not require a centralized control or installation of burdensome infrastructure, said the company. Instead, they use computer vision and artificial intelligence to “learn on the fly” and to navigate autonomously while carrying various payloads, it said.
The company said its autonomous farming robots are already increasing productivity, with one Burro enabling six-plus people to harvest up to 48% more fruit per day for a less than a two-month return on investment (ROI).
Burro said it is already scaling in the $3 billion table-grapes market, and it is looking to expand into berries and nursery crops. It said it eventually aims to tackle the $1.2 trillion in U.S. outdoor labor with its modular automation.
Source : https://autonomous-mag.com/burro-ra...expand-its-line-of-autonomous-farming-robots/
Burro was founded in 2017 and the Company said its autonomous platform is designed to free growers and their workforce from tedious tasks, while building a modular base for greater autonomy.
Growers of specialty crops such as table grapes, berries, and nursery products are largely un-mechanized and employ 88% of U.S. crop workers to do a diverse set of hard-to-mechanize tasks, according to Burro.
In California, where the bulk of specialty crops in the U.S. are grown, the number of farmworkers has declined 40% the past decade because of the strenuous nature of farm labor, increasing regulations, and rising wages.
Burro said that its autonomous farming robots can increase productivity in conventional production environments. Burros feature a patent-pending approach called Pop Up Autonomy, which means they work immediately out of the box by enabling everyone in a working environment to become an operator.
The autonomous farming robots do not require a centralized control or installation of burdensome infrastructure, said the company. Instead, they use computer vision and artificial intelligence to “learn on the fly” and to navigate autonomously while carrying various payloads, it said.
The company said its autonomous farming robots are already increasing productivity, with one Burro enabling six-plus people to harvest up to 48% more fruit per day for a less than a two-month return on investment (ROI).
Burro said it is already scaling in the $3 billion table-grapes market, and it is looking to expand into berries and nursery crops. It said it eventually aims to tackle the $1.2 trillion in U.S. outdoor labor with its modular automation.
Source : https://autonomous-mag.com/burro-ra...expand-its-line-of-autonomous-farming-robots/
