ICARO X4 vs Prospr
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.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.
Best for: Larger commercial orchard or vineyard operations in the US, Australia or New Zealand — the Treasury Wine Estates case study (two units, 300 ha, NZD 115,000/year net savings after subscription costs) shows the economics working at estate scale, backed by a real Yamaha Agriculture / Croplands / Burrows Tractor dealer network.| ICARO X4 Verified 2026-07-19 | Prospr Verified 2026-07-19 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Spraying | Spraying |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Italy | New Zealand |
| Availability | Pilot / limited | Available now |
| EU market | Pending | Pending |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-19 | 2026-07-19 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Hybrid — electric drive motors with a 2-cylinder Kohler diesel range extender | Hybrid diesel-electric — Tier 4 diesel generator + regenerative braking + high-capacity battery pack, powering independent electric drive motors at each wheel |
| Required tractor power | Not required (self-propelled hybrid unit) | Not required (self-propelled) — hybrid diesel-electric drivetrain, ~50 kW drive output |
| 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) | 5,240 x 1,950 x 3,600 mm (206 x 77 x 141 in, L x W x H); minimum row spacing 1.85 m (6.07 ft); minimum headland 7.1 m (23 ft), spot-turns around the rear axle |
| Weight | Not disclosed | 2,000 kg / 4,409 lb (unladen, without payload) |
| Min farm size | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 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 | 300 ha (740 ac) covered by two units across eight 15-hour operating days in the Treasury Wine Estates case study — about 1.3 ha/hr (3.2 ac/hr) per unit, up from 1 ha/hr (2.4 ac/hr) with a conventional tractor-mounted sprayer |
| Max speed | 2 km/h | Not disclosed |
| 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 | RTK GPS precision navigation; LiDAR + camera sensor fusion for obstacle detection and collision avoidance |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Native price | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| 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) | Contact-sales / subscription-inclusive model — Yamaha Agriculture's own case study nets savings "after subscription costs" but no purchase price or subscription terms are published; sold direct and through the Yamaha Agriculture / Croplands (AU, NZ) / Burrows Tractor (US) dealer network. |
| Ongoing cost | Kohler diesel range-extender fuel and servicing; UV panel and weather-station upkeep — costs not published | Subscription-style cost referenced in published case studies but exact terms not disclosed; parts and preventative-maintenance kits supplied through the dealer network. |
| 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 | Vineyard spraying work rate +34% · vendor |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | Not disclosed — no CE marking statement found on the manufacturer site or in trade coverage | Not confirmed — no CE-marking evidence found; the product is not marketed or sold in the EU (deployment is US, Australia and New Zealand only) |
| 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 | Not applicable — no EU market presence found; would fall under Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 autonomous-machine provisions if ever placed on the EU market |
| CAP subsidy | Fungicide/pesticide-reduction positioning may support IPM-linked CAP eco-scheme measures, though no direct CAP reference found in manufacturer materials | Not applicable — outside the EU, no CAP relevance; sold in the US, Australia and New Zealand only |
"—" 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.