November 21, 2018

Kiwi agricultural robotics and automation startup Robotics Plus announced a US$8 million investment from Yamaha Motor Co. Inc (Japan). This is the second investment by Yamaha in the business this year, after a partnership agreement and investment of US$2 million were announced in March.

“We are very pleased to have continued strengthening our partnership with Yamaha Motor and secured additional investment to support our vision to grow into a truly New Zealand, global business that will transform a number of industries,” says Steve Saunders, co-founder and chairman of Robotics Plus, who is currently establishing a U.S. subsidiary for the company.

With the goal of solving the global issues of labor shortages, pollination gaps, and a need for greater sustainability and yield security, Robotics Plus focuses on developing four pillars: mechanization, automation, robotics, and sensors (MARS) technologies for horticulture and other primary industries.

In May of this year, Āporo apple packers, the company’s first commercially launched product, was released. Able to identify and place apples in display trays, the Āporo can safely handle up to 120 pieces of fruit per minute, and is currently being used in packhouses in New Zealand and the U.S.

Other technologies in Robotics Plus’ suite of products being developed to address labor shortages and increasing consumer demand for fresh fruit include a robotic kiwifruit harvester, an autonomous agricultural vehicle, a robotic pollinator, a crop estimator, and various additional confidential projects.

“We’ve invested in Robotics Plus to help us reach our goal to make agriculture more sustainable, healthy, and secure,” said Hiro Saijo, CEO of Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley. “To meet the significant and increasing agriculture demands of today and tomorrow, including agricultural labour shortage globally, we need to create sophisticated and precision robotics and automation technologies that will transform the agricultural industries.”

Through its partnership and relationship with Yamaha, Robotics Plus gains more than capital, while Yamaha gains greater exposure to agriculture. Robotics is able to leverage Yamaha Motor’s deep experience and knowledge connected to outdoor vehicles, automation, robotics, design for manufacturing, and manufacturing.

“We’ve developed a mutually beneficial commercial relationship with Yamaha Motor. We can benefit from their specialist knowledge in precision automation, manufacturing and access to high quality components to help us develop our technologies,” said Dr. Matt Glenn CEO, Robotics Plus. “Yamaha Motor can benefit from working with Robotics Plus as a world leading robotics and automation business focusing on the agricultural and horticultural markets.”

“We have a highly skilled development team located close to orchards and other agricultural environments.  We can rapidly prototype new ideas, validate new components and integrate these into our robotic systems. This will also create new opportunities to develop technologies in other markets, too.”

Robotics Plus is also engaged in other partnerships that help make the company well-positioned to grow into a global leader.

“In addition to Yamaha Motor, we also have commercial partnerships with Global Pac Technologies, ISO Limited and Trimax,” said Dr. Glenn. “We’ve also established valuable collaborative research relationships with the University of Waikato, the University of Auckland, Massey University and Plant & Food Research, and we are a founding partner of PlantTech, an industry-led research organisation based in the Western Bay of Plenty.”

Another factor that has played a role in ushering Robotic Plus’ growth has been Saunders’ Māori heritage.

“Our core values of ‘he aronga nui’ (pioneering), ‘manaakitanga’ (collaboration), ‘tika me te pono’ (principled) and ‘kaitiakitangi’ (stewardship) resonate with Yamaha Motor’s values,” said Saunders. “We have a common desire to meet future challenges to feed the world in a sustainable way with smart automation and intelligent robotics.”

-Lynda Kiernan