iCal

Questions to be answered

• What are the key technological, economic, and social barriers preventing the widespread adoption of robotics in agriculture?
• How can agricultural robotic products scale up the market?
• How can robotics enhance new farming models and support sustainable agricultural practices?
• How can the integration of AI and Robotics foster the agroecological transition while maintaining economic feasibility?
• What role do government policies and industry stakeholders play in facilitating the deployment of robotics in agriculture?

Description

The adoption of robotics in agriculture holds significant promise for addressing many of the challenges faced by modern farming, such as labor shortages, the need for increased productivity, and the demand for more sustainable farming practices as required by the EU Farm2Fork program.

Agricultural robotics, including autonomous tractors and drones, smart implements, and precision farming tools, can revolutionize how crops are managed, harvested, and processed, leading to greater efficiency and reduced environmental impact. By enabling precision farming practices, robotics optimizes resource use, such as water, fertilizers, and pesticides, thereby minimizing chemical runoff, preserving soil health, and promoting biodiversity. Moreover, agricultural robotics supports sustainable methods like no-till farming and agroforestry by automating complex tasks and labor-intensive activities, making sustainable practices economically viable for farmers.

However, several barriers still impede the widespread integration of robotics into agricultural systems and consequently their massive adoption. Technological limitations, such as the need for robots to operate in complex, unpredictable outdoor environments, represent a key challenge. Nevertheless, socio-economical factors, such as the high initial cost of robotics systems and the lack of specialized skills among farm operators, play an active role in slowing down adoption rates. Furthermore, taking new products to market requires proper certification and validation procedures not yet fully in place for agricultural robots.

The workshop topics include, but are not limited to:

• The validation needs for getting agricultural robotics products on the market, including agronomic validation
• The current EU funded services for validating solutions in the Agrifood domain (i.e. AgrifoodTEF services)
• The implications of AI Act and the new Machine Regulation towards agricultural machinery
• Standardisation / Certification in Agricultural Robotics (i.e. Sandboxes)

Organisation of the WS

• 8:30 - 8:35 Welcome by organizers, workshop objectives, and context for agricultural robot market adoption
• 8:35 - 8:50 AgrifoodTEF services to support the deployment of AI and Robotics solutions (Raffaele Giaffreda – Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy)
• 8:50 - 9:05 How robotics is transforming agriculture to foster sustainable practices? Challenges and case studies (Ouiddad Labbani-I. – XLIM Research Institute, University of Limoges, France)
• 9:05 - 9:25 Adoption barriers to robotics by machines manufacturers and end users (Erik Pekkeriet – Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands)
• 9:25 - 9:50 Interactive Discussion: Moderated Q&A and open debate addressing technology readiness, economic aspects, usability, robustness, and adaptability of agricultural robots

Intended outcome

The WS questions the adoption and market integration of advanced robotics-powered agricultural systems aligned with sustainable development goals. It intends to create an ecosystem where research and development efforts are aligned with the practical needs of farmers, identify fundamental issues and key challenges, and establish lines of thought to tackle these questions from multiple perspectives: agronomy/scientific/innovation/end-user/market- oriented.

Speakers, Panelists, etc

Speakers

• Raffaele Giaffreda – Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
• Ouiddad Labbani-I. – XLIM Research Institute, University of Limoges, France
• Erik Pekkeriet – Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands

Moderators

• Matteo Matteucci – Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Eric Pernot - Aquitaine Robotics, France

Topic Groups and/or Innovation networks involved

TG on Agricultural Robots: https://eu-robotics.net/agriculture-topic-group/

Projects involved

• AgrifoodTEF https://www.agrifoodtef.eu/
• ANR ROSE (Robotique et capteurs au service d'Ecophyto) Challenge (https://www.challenge-rose.fr/en/overview/)
• NINSAR (New ItiNerarieS for Agroecology using cooperative Robots) PEPR flagship project (https://project.inria.fr/ninsar/objectives/)
• GORT (Generic agnostic robots and data for massive technological
• agroecological transformations) France 2030 project (Défi Transfert Robotique) https://gort.pages.xlim.fr/web/index.html
• NxtGen Hightech Agrifood https://nxtgenhightech.nl/agrifood/

Further information

Organisers

• Labbani-Igbida Ouiddad (University of Limoges), ouiddad.labbani-igbida@unilim.fr
• Eric Pernot (Aquitaine Robotics), Eric.Pernot@aquitaine-robotics.fr
• Matteo Matteucci (Politecnico di Milano), matteo.matteucci@polimi.it
• Raffaele Giaffreda (Fondazione Bruno Kessler) rgiaffreda@fbk.eu