The advancement of technology combined with increasing challenges facing the agricultural industry will lead to the use of robotics and AI in farming, but it will be slow progress according to market research firm IDTechEx.
Its latest report Agricultural Robotics Market 2022-2032 lists several reasons why the agricultural industry has been slow to digitise compared with other sectors such as logistics, delivery and mining. This includes high upfront costs as the initial investment for robots still seems to be a big financial pressure for farmers.
Additionally, the agriculture industry itself has a low margin, which makes farmers hesitant to make this investment, the report found. However, the Robotics-as-a-Service model could provide a solution for this, as farmers can choose to rent the robots whenever they want rather than purchasing the entity.
The lack of geographical availability due to the lack of IT infrastructure is also a barrier, according to the report. One of the biggest challenges of agbots is the communication system (e.g., WiFi, cellular). Communication systems require the support of IT infrastructure, however, farms are typically located in rural areas where the infrastructure is limited. Therefore, the coverage of 3G, 4G, and beyond needs to be widespread before greater adoption of robotics.
Furthermore, as farmers typically only have one chance per year for seeding and harvesting the failure of robots could directly lead to the loss of a farmer’s annual income, IDTechEx stressed. Therefore, unless the robots have sufficient technical robustness and trustworthiness to mitigate the potential risks, farmers are still hesitant to use machines.
IDTechEx suggested that the evolution of the technologies, along with the increasing technical robustness and trust-gaining ability of robots will see more and more people start to realise the potential in agricultural automation. It added two of the most well-developed applications in agritech are robotic milking and spraying thanks to the technical simplicity and high application values.
It also predicted that the market for agricultural robots will remain bullish for the upcoming decade, with a two-digit growth rate per year. IDTechEx expects the global market will reach US$13bn USD by 2032.
