ICARO X4 vs S1000
Two spraying machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
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.
Best for: Vineyard growers on a single contiguous block up to roughly 10-15 ha who want to cut fungicide/pesticide spray rounds against powdery mildew, downy mildew and botrytis by substituting or supplementing them with UV-C light treatment.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.
Best for: Large orchard or vineyard operators able to import directly from China and self-manage logistics, customs, and any EU compliance paperwork themselves.| ICARO X4 Verified 2026-07-19 | S1000 Verified 2026-07-19 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Spraying | Spraying |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Italy | China |
| Availability | Pilot / limited | Available now |
| EU market | Pending | Pending |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | ~4 wk |
| Last verified | 2026-07-19 | 2026-07-19 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Hybrid — electric drive motors with a 2-cylinder Kohler diesel range extender | Diesel-electric hybrid — 44 kW four-cylinder diesel engine + generator + 7.2 kWh lithium battery (extended-range design) |
| Required tractor power | Not required (self-propelled hybrid unit) | Not required — self-propelled tracked platform |
| Dimensions | Approx. 3085 x 1550 x 1150-2700 mm (L x W x H, UV panels raised); track width ~1500 mm; turning radius ~900 mm; rated for slopes over 15% (per AgTecher/RobotToday listings — not confirmed on the manufacturer site) | 4490 x 1720 x 1920 mm (L x W x H), tracked chassis (manufacturer listing gives a close variant of 4430 x 1730 x 2100 mm elsewhere — minor inter-listing discrepancy) |
| Weight | Not disclosed | 2,500 kg (manufacturer B2B listing; may include export packaging) |
| Min farm size | Not disclosed | Not disclosed — marketed for large-scale orchard operations (high-density apple blocks, wide citrus rows) but no minimum-hectare figure published |
| Productivity | Up to 10-15 ha coverage per unit for preventive treatment (property layout, slope and soil-dependent); up to 72 continuous hours of operation before refuelling/recharging | 850 L/ha spray application rate at 3 km/h working speed; ≥8 hours continuous operation per tank/charge |
| Max speed | 2 km/h | 0-5 km/h |
| Sensors | RTK positioning (centimetre-level, works without satellite signal per vendor); 4 AI-equipped cameras for pedestrian/obstacle detection; SIL2-certified radar; integrated weather station (wind, temperature, humidity, dew point, rainfall) driving an infection-risk algorithm that triggers treatment | 5D fusion navigation (RTK + LiDAR + millimetre-wave radar + machine vision + inertial sensing); 360° obstacle detection for people/animals/barriers; ±5 cm positioning accuracy (manufacturer listing) |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Native price | Not disclosed | US$60,000-90,000 (FOB China, manufacturer B2B storefront; MOQ 2 units) |
| Business model | Direct inquiry/quote purchase — Free Green Nature assesses a vineyard's coverage via drone survey before pricing; no price is published (a €115,000 indicative figure circulates on the AgTecher directory only — not manufacturer-confirmed). The company is actively recruiting agricultural-machinery dealers and service centres (no established dealer network found) | Direct export sale via the manufacturer (Jiangsu Lanjiang Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing, China) and its B2B storefronts; FOB pricing with a minimum order of 2 units and a roughly 30-day lead time. No EU-based dealer or sales entity was found. |
| Ongoing cost | Kohler diesel range-extender fuel and servicing; UV panel and weather-station upkeep — costs not published | Not disclosed — no published consumable or running-cost figures (diesel, battery replacement, nozzle wear) were found beyond the manufacturer's 1-year local spare-parts commitment. |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Chemical fungicide/pesticide use in treated vineyard blocks up to -70% (vendor-stated; not confirmed on the manufacturer's own site, which states only a qualitative "reduction or elimination of pesticides") · vendor | — No verified outcome |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | Not disclosed — no CE marking statement found on the manufacturer site or in trade coverage | Manufacturer's B2B trade listing (made-in-china.com storefront) states the company is "certified by 3C, CE, and ISO quality management system" — a general company-level claim, not a machine-specific CE declaration or document; not independently confirmed. |
| Machinery Regulation | No explicit compliance statement found; the machine is marketed and sold within the EU (Italy), so would fall under Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 autonomous-machine provisions if placed on the market | No evidence of EU placing-on-market found; would fall under Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 autonomous-machine provisions if the machine were sold into the EU. |
| CAP subsidy | Fungicide/pesticide-reduction positioning may support IPM-linked CAP eco-scheme measures, though no direct CAP reference found in manufacturer materials | Not addressed — China-export machine with plant-protection application only; no CAP eco-scheme linkage found. |
"—" 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.