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The future of agriculture: the AgAR universal robotic platform

Transformation of agriculture thanks to technological innovations

Agriculture in Serbia is expecting a big change this year because the universal autonomous agricultural robot AgAR, developed by the company Coming, is ready for the market. In an age where every second counts, AgAR represents a significant change in the way food is produced. Equipped with advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-precision sensors, this robot enables more precise, efficient, and sustainable food production. From replacing human labor in tilling the soil to carrying out various agricultural activities such as planting, irrigation, spraying, pruning, weeding and harvesting, AgAR will enable an increase in productivity, reduction in production costs, and easing of the physical effort of farmers.

The robot's precision is the biggest challenge

Thinking about the optimization of agricultural production, experts from the Coming company moved away from the development of a specific agricultural robot that helps in the cultivation of a single agricultural crop. Instead, they designed a universal robot that makes it possible to achieve higher yields with fewer resources. “We find inspiration in the idea we gathered together, and as a team, we push toward its realization”, says Višnja Crnogorac, legal advisor at the Coming company.

The main idea of the Coming company was to develop a robot that would make it possible to utilize all the existing potentials of the agricultural holding, including the standard attachments that are already used on tractors. In cooperation with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Niš, they developed and tested a robot that should become a new standard in agriculture.

“The main purpose of AgAR is precision agriculture, but in addition, it can use all traditional category 1 attachments, which are already intended for tractors on the market”, says Nikola Velčev, leading software development engineer at Coming. He further points out that the robot moves at a speed of about 6 km/h and that the precision of the robot's work is the most important: “Every millisecond is important to us because if the robot is one hundred milliseconds late, it is already about twenty centimeters and it can deviate from the path and damage agricultural crops”.

In addition to speed, precision and the ability to attach standard agricultural attachments for tractors, this team of experts also thought of the most important resource - time. As an electric autonomous vehicle, which moves along a predefined path, with regular battery replacement, AgAR can operate in three shifts, which reduces operating costs.

Commercialization with the help of the Innovation Fund

“The development of robotics is very expensive. The funds allocated by our company would not be enough to reach commercialization”, recalls Velčev of the obstacles to the development of a universal robot. For the "RoboShepard" project - a mobile and electronic system for guarding and raising herds, which increases the efficiency of grazing with a movable fence by directing animals to the best places for grazing, Coming used funds from the Collaborative Grant Scheme Program of the Fund.

They continued their cooperation with the Fund, applying for the Matching Grants Program, and managed to develop and test AgAR with the help of European Union funds, which are arriving on the market these days. "We are extremely grateful to the Fund and the European Union for their help and support, and we hope to continue our successful story," concludes Višnja Crnogorac.