Autonome Maschinen für Pflanzenschutz, geprüft

Italian hybrid diesel-electric robot from Free Green Nature (Colle Umberto, Treviso — coordinated by parent Maschio Gaspardo S.p.a.) that patrols vineyards autonomously and folds out UV-C panels to actively prevent powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis, triggered by an onboard weather station ("the Commander of ICARO X4") reading conditions favourable to infection. It is a prevention system, not a curative treatment, and the manufacturer does not publish independent field-performance data — chemical-reduction figures found are vendor-stated.

GUSS Automation's dedicated herbicide sprayer for orchards and vineyards — the same self-driving 4WD/4-wheel-steer platform as base GUSS, but built to spot-spray weeds in row middles instead of spraying the tree/vine canopy, using multiple onboard weed-detection sensors to target individual weeds rather than blanket-spraying. Diesel-powered (John Deere 4.5L 74 hp Stage V engine, no DEF) with a 600-gallon tank and adjustable 15-19 ft breakaway spray booms. Like the rest of the GUSS line it is sold and serviced only through John Deere dealers, confirmed only in the US and Australia, with no EU presence found.

Chinese tracked orchard sprayer from Jiangsu Lanjiang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (LJ Tech, Nanjing) — 1,000 L tank, diesel-electric hybrid drive, and a multi-sensor (RTK + LiDAR + millimetre-wave radar + machine vision) navigation stack with switchable remote-control or full-autonomous operation. Sold FOB China from China (from roughly US$60,000 on the manufacturer's own B2B storefront); no EU dealer, machine-specific CE declaration, or named European installation was found, despite manufacturer marketing content referencing Spanish, French, Italian, Polish and Austrian orchards.

California-built (Kingsburg) autonomous orchard/vineyard sprayer — GUSS Automation's smaller sibling to the base Orchard GUSS, built roughly 25% smaller to fit high-density orchard and vineyard rows. Same driverless GPS+LiDAR row navigation and laptop-based fleet supervision as the base machine (one operator can watch up to 8 units), on a 400-gallon tank with interchangeable vineyard and apple/high-density-orchard spray towers rather than the base machine's larger 600-gallon tank. Sold and serviced only through the John Deere/GUSS dealer network in the US and Australia; GUSS Automation is now a John Deere subsidiary following an acquisition confirmed on GUSS's own site.

French autonomous field robot from Osiris Agriculture (Illies, Hauts-de-France; founded 2021) that self-navigates row crops via RTK-GNSS and delivers precision irrigation plus fertigation — nitrogen/potassium dosed into the water — through a foldable boom, generating its own electricity from the water flow as it runs (solar, diesel-generator or battery backup when off-water). Commercially sold since 2025 in northern France through distributor Verhaeghe Irrigation; Osiris itself lists crop-protection spraying as a future capability, not a current one.

New Zealand-engineered autonomous spraying vehicle for orchards and vineyards, built by Robotics Plus (Tauranga, NZ) and sold/supported today through Yamaha Agriculture, formed when Yamaha Motor completed its acquisition of Robotics Plus in 2025. A hybrid diesel-electric drivetrain (Tier 4 generator + battery pack + independent wheel motors) drives RTK-GPS-guided autonomous spraying with quick-swap Q Series (foliar) and H Series (under-canopy herbicide) sprayers. Commercially deployed in the US, Australia and New Zealand; a published case study (Treasury Wine Estates, NZ) shows two units covering 300 ha of vineyard across eight 15-hour operating days.

US-built AI-guided precision-application implement (Verdant Robotics calls it "SharpShooter" — not "Spraybox"; see maker note below) that identifies each plant with 3D machine vision and fires a targeted micro-dose of herbicide, fertiliser or biological product rather than blanket-spraying the field. Tractor-drawn via a standard 3-point hitch; commercially available with expanded nationwide US availability announced May 2025; no EU sales or CE evidence found.

Modular electric unmanned ground vehicle from XAG (Guangzhou, China) built around one chassis that swaps between three payloads — RevoSpray Ground 2 (150 L tank, 12 m spray width) for orchard/vineyard spraying, RevoMower 2.0 for cutting shrubs and reeds, and a 200 kg-capacity material-transport module — navigated by dual-antenna RTK plus stereo-vision/4D-radar obstacle sensing. Publicly sold since June 2021 (launched first in Japan) and still listed with full specs on XAG's own site, but it is XAG's 2022-generation rover — the company unveiled a separate, newer "R Series" (R100/R200) at Agritechnica 2025 as its current smart-farm rover line, and reseller stock fluctuates — buyers should confirm live availability directly with XAG or a dealer rather than assume stock.

Israeli-developed retrofit precision-spray kit that adds real-time selective spraying to a customer's existing self-propelled sprayer — boom-mounted RGB cameras (1.5 m spacing) feed AI that classifies weeds to species level and fires an added line of individually pulsed nozzles, while a second broadcast line still applies residual herbicide. Commercially launched in Israel (2021) and the US Midwest (2022), expanded to cotton in 2025; not confirmed as sold in the EU.

California-built (Kingsburg) autonomous sprayer for orchards and vineyards, now a wholly owned John Deere subsidiary after an August 2025 acquisition that followed a three-year joint venture. GUSS navigates rows itself on GPS + LiDAR with no driver on board, but GUSS/Deere describe this as "supervised" autonomy — one operator monitors and can remotely intervene on up to 8 machines at once from a laptop. The line spans base GUSS (600-gal tank, diesel), Mini GUSS (smaller footprint for vineyards/high-density orchards/berries), Herbicide GUSS (sensor-triggered spot-spray weed control) and a 2024 fully electric option; sold and serviced only through John Deere dealers in the US and Australia, with 250+ units deployed globally as of the 2025 acquisition.

Autonomous solar-powered ultra-high-precision spot-spraying robot introduced by Swiss firm Ecorobotix in 2020 — about a dozen units ran trials across Europe, feeding the plant-detection algorithms. Ecorobotix discontinued the autonomous platform after efficiency shortfalls and legal uncertainty around driverless machines in several countries, and rebuilt the spot-spray technology as the tractor-pulled ARA sprayer (launched 2021), which is what the company sells today.

Norwegian autonomous UV-C robot that replaces fungicide sprays for powdery mildew control — working at night in UK tabletop strawberries (used by 13 leading growers, around 20–30% of the national tabletop crop) and California vineyards, where over 150 Thorvald 3.0 units ran the 2025 season. Delivered as a service rather than a machine sale, with a vineyard-specific model launched for 2026.

The industry's first driverless spreader — Case IH's 415 hp liquid/dry combination applicator running CNH's Raven Autonomy stack, sold in North America.

Heavy-lift spray-and-spread drone for terrain ground rigs cannot reach — previous-generation since DJI's July 2025 global launch of the Agras T70P and T100.

DJI's 70 kg-payload spray-spread-lift drone (global launch July 2025) — 70 L spray tank, 100 L spread hopper, dual millimetre-wave radar and tri-vision obstacle sensing.

Tractor-drawn smart sprayer that treats each plant individually with centimetre precision.

Camera-based spot-spraying system from the Bosch–BASF joint venture, commercially implemented on the Amazone UX 5201 SmartSprayer trailed sprayer — per-nozzle green-on-green and green-on-brown weed detection with 24/7 LED night operation and xarvio agronomic decision logic.

Solar-powered scouting and spot-spraying robot from Brazilian-founded Solinftec (global HQ West Lafayette, Indiana) — lives in the field 24/7, monitors up to 2 million plants a day and applies herbicide plant-by-plant; 100+ robots deployed, US acreage up 243% year-on-year into 2026.

Crawler-tracked autonomous spraying robot for steep, narrow vineyards — inverted-U frame straddles vines up to 1.4 m, 200 L electrostatic spray tank, 45% slope capability. Developed by Yanmar, on sale in France since 2023 through dedicated subsidiary Yanmar Vineyard Solutions (Champagne region focus, Moët & Chandon partnership); a weeder attachment was added in 2024.