The smart harvest market is estimated to be valued at USD 9.0 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 15.6 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 11.81% during the forecast period. The growth of the smart harvest market is driven by factors such as growing farm labor issues due to higher costs and cost efficency benefits offered by smart harvest.
Key players in the smart harvest market include Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Deere & Company (US), Smart Harvest Ltd. (UK), Dogtooth Technologies (UK), Harvest Automation (US), Panasonic Corporation (Japan), Root AI (US), Abundant Robotics (US), Iron Ox (US), Agrobot (Spain), Energid Technologies Corp. (US), FFRobotics (Israel), Vision Robotics Corp. (US), Metomotion (Israel), AVL Motion (Netherlands), and Harvest Croo (US).
Deere & Company is popularly recognized by one of its major brand name “John Deere” across the globe. The company and its subsidiaries manufacture and distribute agriculture and turf, and construction and forestry equipment worldwide. The company offers a range of agricultural robots such as display systems, guidance and machine control systems, and field and crop imaging and sensing systems to optimize the harvesting process in the agriculture industry.
Deere & Company has significantly increased its investment in the R&D for product innovations and to adapt to the growing need for automation in farms. The company is focusing on expanding its technological capabilities to deliver fully autonomous combine harvesters. It also aims to develop and manufacture fully autonomous tractors and harvesting systems that would negate the requirement for human labor and reduce overhead costs for farm owners. The company strategizes to increase its focus on the R&D activities over the next decade and develop machines with level-5 capabilities, which include fully autonomous movement and artificial intelligence.
Robert Bosch GmbH, or Bosch is one of the leading suppliers of technology and services. The Bosch Group comprises ~440 subsidiaries and regional companies in over 60 countries. Bosch mainly focuses on strategies such as partnerships and collaborations to expand its service portfolio. The company partnered with IBM Corp. (US) and GE Digital (a software division of GE (US) and SAP SE (Germany)) in 2016 for the development of IoT and Industry 4.0 platform for connected devices.
It has also collaborated with various technology companies and R&D institutes in Germany for developing advanced sensor systems, which could further augment the capabilities of Bosch’s co-bot—APAS (Automatic Production Assistant). Bosch’s foray into agriculture through the acquisition of Deepfield robotics, which depicts the company’s inclination to horizontally integrate the technology in their existing product portfolio.
Panasonic Corporation is focusing on fruit and vegetable harvesting as a mode to enter the smart harvest market. The company is developing cutting-edge equipment and solutions for harvesting fruits and vegetables to enter the smart harvest market.
It focuses on the standalone development of all robotic components to offer higher control during the manufacturing process on quality without any dependence on the third-party suppliers. The robot is also being tested under rigorous conditions to meet the stringent operating standards. Panasonic’s R&D facilities are located across Japan, North America, Europe, and Asia that focus on investing in new technologies to develop high-performance and energy-efficient products
