A low-cost robotic platform which can be fitted with almost any agricultural implement could help farmers across the UK to overcome the lack of available manual labour.
The Robotriks Traction Unit (RTU), created by startup company Robotriks, costs just £7,000 – almost a tenth of the cost of most other products on the market.
Powered by batteries which last for 24 hours, it can be built within a few hours and made available for a range of tasks from crop monitoring to harvesting crops like cauliflowers.
Robotriks was co-founded by Jake Shaw-Sutton, Senior Robotics Technician at the University of Plymouth, and Khaian Marsh and is based near St Austell in Cornwall.
Both grew up on farms, so they had an idea of the challenges facing the sector but could also put the RTU through its paces in real-life situations, including testing for soil compaction.