WS#21 Adoption of robotics in agriculture: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development

WS#21 Adoption of robotics in agriculture: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development

WS#21 Adoption of robotics in agriculture: challenges and opportunities for sustainable development

Room 20

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

The workshop aims to stimulate a multifaceted discussion among different actors in the process of agricultural robots market adoption with a first half of the workshop aimed at contextualizing the different perspectives and a second part open from discussion.

The agenda of the workshop is expected to be

Short intro from the organizers: 5 min

Presentations:

  • AgrifoodTEF Services by Raffaele Giaffreda 10 min
  • Agroecological perspectives by Ouiddad Labbani-I. 10 min
  • Association of farmers/agronomists by (to be identified) 10 min
  • Investors / market perspective by (to be identified) 10 min
  • Moderated questions/debate with the audience 45 min

For the sake of increasing interaction among the speakers and the audience, participants will be allowed to cast questions and comments via Mentimeter during the first part and a selection on these will be addressed and discussed in the form of an open forum in the second.

The discussions are expected to cover topics about technology readiness, economic (in)convenience of agricultural robots in comparison to human labor, (un)friendliness of current products, robustness and adaptability of products on the market to different cultivars and growing conditions, among other relevant issues.

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

Organizers:

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

Moderators:

  • Erik Pekkeriet, Programme Manager Vision + Robotics, Wageningen University & Research, erik.pekkeriet@wur.nl

Speakers:

  • Raffaele Giaffreda, Fondazione Bruno Kessler (Italy) - rgiaffreda@fbk.eu
  • Labbani-Igbida Ouiddad, XLIM research institute, University of Limoges (France) - ouiddad.labbani-igbida@unilim.fr
  • … to be completed

Topic Groups and/or Innovation networks involved

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

Projects involved

Further information

  • 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

Organisers

Thu 08:30 - 09:50
Agriculture, Sustainability