Croplands to bring Prospr farm robot to Australia

Spraying solutions expert, Croplands, has partnered up with New Zealand-based agritech company, Robotics Plus, to bring the latter’s innovative farm robot, Prospr, to the Australian and New Zealand horticulture market.

Prospr is an autonomous, multi-use hybrid vehicle platform designed to significantly increase efficiency across a variety of crop tasks and alleviate labour challenges, with capabilities including automated intelligent spraying.

The distribution agreement complements the existing technology partnership between the companies. Robotics Plus specialises in the design and build of robotics, AI, and autonomous machines, while Croplands has over 50 years of experience in world-leading spraying solutions.

“We are proud to partner with Robotics Plus on the design and manufacture of world-leading Quantum sprayer modules to integrate onto Prospr, the autonomous platform developed in New Zealand for horticulture markets,” said Croplands General Manager, Sean Mulvaney.

“Our focus on bringing emerging solutions to the market continues with the opportunity to distribute Prospr and a range of sprayer attachments across Australia and New Zealand.” 

Robotics Plus Co-founder and Chief Executive, Steve Saunders, said the company is all about partnering up with the right businesses to solve problems.

“Agriculture is time-critical, and with Croplands, we are combining deep domain expertise to benefit growers,” he said.

“We have developed an automated, effective spraying and attachment solution with the smarts to not just do the job but to keep doing it better. Prospr customers in Australasia will now benefit from Croplands’ large distributor network, spraying expertise and customer support.”

According to Croplands, Prospr is capable of running all day and can run without any human intervention, thus helping to alleviate labour shortage issues while reducing emissions and costs at the same time.

The machine’s unique modular architecture accommodates multiple interchangeable tools being developed, including newly released tower sprayers for grapes, apples, or tree crops. Its versatility gives farm owners maximum return on investment.

Multiple Prospr machines can collaborate in a fleet to get the job done. The autonomous vehicle uses a combination of perception systems to sense the environment and put valuable data and insights into the hands of growers.

The Prospr has an all-electric drive system and an onboard Tier 4 diesel power generator that allow the vehicle to operate for extended periods without charging or refuelling, Croplands said.

Regenerative braking and high-capacity batteries extend range, while its intelligent all-wheel-drive system with independent wheel motors give superior manoeuvrability, grip, and control.

The Prospr has a small footprint and a unique steering configuration, incorporating electric steering and independent motors.

The vehicle turns on its rear axle with a minimum headland requirement of 7.1m for row-to-row turning. Minimum row spacing is 1.85m.

These specifications allow more ground to be covered faster, maximising productivity and spray time compared to machines that turn on every second row or greater, Croplands added.

The vehicle’s lightweight design, combined with its unique tyre and wheel configuration, reduces ground compaction. Robotics Plus’ ongoing partnership with Yamaha Motor Co allows the company to take advantage of their extensive knowledge in machine vision, artificial intelligence, and productising vehicles for scale.

In addition, Robotics Plus has developed the Q Series Sprayers in conjunction with Croplands for use with the Prospr.

The Q4 and Q6 sprayers have two or three fans per side designed for either vine or tree crops. The Q8 sprayer comprises eight fans, four per side, and is best suited to tree crops.

Spray rates and air speed are dynamic and controlled per fan to maximise spray efficacy through electric drive and control systems. The sprayers are built using Croplands Quantum fans that produce targeted, controlled and turbulent air for better coverage from the superior droplet formation and spray deposition. 

To implement Prospr, a mesh network is installed to give a more consistent connection and interaction with the machine, improving operational efficiencies and user safety.

Operators can manage and streamline the day's work with a new organisational tool with an easy-to-use interface. Coordination is enabled between team members with multi-language support across various desktop and mobile devices.

Jobs can be logged in advance and viewed in real-time. Completed or in-progress jobs are mapped and recorded digitally. Multiple machines can be managed simultaneously by one or two operators from a single remote control via a fixed or mobile console. For more information on Prospr, visit Croplands’ website.