ARA vs Oscar
Two spraying machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
Tractor-drawn smart sprayer that treats each plant individually with centimetre precision.
Best for: Growers cutting herbicide/pesticide spend hard while keeping an existing tractor fleet.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.
Best for: Large-scale potato and vegetable growers in northern France (or similar row-crop regions) who already run hose-reel/boom irrigation and want to automate it while adding fertigation — the distributor cites roughly 25 ha as the economic break-even.| ARA Verified 2026-07-16 | Oscar Verified 2026-07-19 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Spraying | Spraying |
| Autonomy | AI-assisted | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Switzerland | France |
| Availability | Available now | Available now |
| EU market | CE-marked | Pending |
| Lead time | ~18 wk | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-19 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Tractor PTO + hydraulics; onboard AI compute | Electric — onboard water-turbine generator produces power from the irrigation flow itself; solar panels, a diesel generator, or batteries back it up when not connected to a water source |
| Required tractor power | 80 hp minimum | Not required for operation (self-propelled); road transport between fields via tractor tow, with regulatory approval for that still pending per one source |
| Dimensions | 6.00 m working width folded to 3.0 m transport | 5.08 m long x 3.05 m wide x 3.43 m high; foldable boom extends to 40-44 m depending on configuration (sources vary between 24-40 m and up to 44 m) |
| Weight | 1,900 kg | 12,000 kg |
| Min farm size | 30 ha | Roughly 25 ha (economic break-even point cited by French distributor Verhaeghe Irrigation) |
| Productivity | Up to 4 ha/hour | Roughly 25-40 ha irrigated per week (sources vary), applying about 20-30 mm of water per week; water flow up to 60 m3/h |
| Max speed | 7 km/h working | 100-250 m/h field travel speed |
| Sensors | High-res cameras · per-plant recognition · section control | RTK-GNSS plus inertial measurement unit for centimetre-level autonomous navigation; onboard cameras for plant growth and soil-moisture monitoring |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | €165,000 | €250,000 |
| Native price | €165,000 | €250,000 |
| Business model | Buy · lease · contractor revenue-share options | Direct purchase; base price ~€250,000 HT (excl. tax), indicative €200,000- 300,000 range reported depending on configuration (wheel count, boom width, hose length, tyres, guidance system) — versus roughly €100,000 HT for a traditional hose-reel-with-boom irrigator. Sold in northern France through distributor Verhaeghe Irrigation (Montdidier, Somme); Osiris Agriculture also sells and demonstrates directly. |
| Ongoing cost | €3,200/yr software + agronomic subscription | Not disclosed — no published subscription, per-hectare service fee, or consumables schedule found beyond the buyer-configured hardware options at purchase. |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Herbicide applied (dock control, grassland) −90%+ · independent | Water use vs. conventional hose-reel/cannon irrigation ~-30% (vendor commitment) · vendor |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | CE marked (2022) | Not confirmed — no explicit CE-marking statement found on the manufacturer site or in trade press. Osiris is reported to be developing separate "autonomy certification" to run the robot without an on-site supervisor, implying current commercial operation is supervised. |
| Machinery Regulation | Compliant — Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 | Placed on the French/EU market commercially since 2025; would fall under the autonomous-machine provisions of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230, but no explicit compliance statement was found in the sources checked. |
| CAP subsidy | Eligible under CAP; SW & FR precision-spraying subsidies | Precision water and fertiliser dosing could support CAP eco-scheme water-efficiency measures; no direct CAP linkage has been published by Osiris. |
"—" means the manufacturer has not disclosed the figure; we never estimate silently. Model either machine's payback with your own numbers on its ROI calculator page.