The global crop harvesting robot market is experiencing significant growth and is expected to grow considerably in the next few years. In the last decade, the demand for the automation of agriculture has increased to enhance the productivity of crop harvesting. Crop harvesting robot is a specially designed autonomous crop harvesting machine used on small as well as big farms. Basically, there are two broad types of harvesting robots. One is for the selective harvesting of crops such as fruit and vegetables, and the other type is used for large field grain crops. Crop harvesting robots are of many sizes, from as small as a lounge to as large as a big tractor. Furthermore, they are generally semi-automated or fully automated based on the type of work they are required to perform. In addition, just like any other robot, these harvesting robots are capable of replacing many workers, which means they can save time and money incurred on crop harvesting. Moreover, crop harvesting robots are highly advanced machinery, and major players in the crop harvesting robot industry adopt advanced technologies to increase the efficiency and productivity of their products to sustain the competition in the crop harvesting robot market.
Market Scope and Structure Analysis
Description
Crop harvesting robots use advanced sensors, cameras, advanced computing, and other high-end technology for efficient harvesting of crops. The automatic harvesting robots use computer vision to detect and localize fruits or vegetables on trees, and then a robotic arm firmly grabs the fruit and plucks it off the tree without damaging the target fruit or the tree. The use of such robots brings efficiency and high productivity in the agriculture sector.
COVID-19 Impact analysis
- The COVID-19 pandemic ceased the production of various products in the crop harvesting robot industry, which is attributed to the global lockdown. This has hampered the growth of crop harvesting robot market in the years and a similar trend is expected to be seen in the first half of 2022.
- The major demand for crop harvesting robots was previously noticed from giant developed and developing countries, including the U.S., Germany, Italy, the UK, and China, which are negatively affected by the spread of the coronavirus, thereby declining the demand for crop harvesting robot.
- Further, potential long-term impact of the lockdown is currently vague and financial recovery of companies is totally based on their cash reserves. Crop harvesting robot manufacturers can afford a lockdown only for a few months, after which the players have to modify their investment plans. For instance, various players in the market halted their production activities for several weeks to reduce their expenses. On the contrary, few players adopted employee lay-offs to sustain themselves during the COVID-19 health crisis
- Crop harvesting robot manufacturers are expected to focus on protecting their workforce, operations, and supply chains to respond to immediate crises and find new ways of working after COVID-19. For instance, provision of sanitizers, maintaining social distancing, as well as ensuring the vaccination of every employee in the company can assist in promoting the health & safety of the workforce.
Top Impacting Factors
Around 40% of the global population has agribusiness as their occupation, and in recent times, there has been rise in interest in autonomous vehicles in agribusiness. A rapid increase in global population is boosting the demand for agricultural products. As a result, the crop harvesting robot market is becoming more popular. Moreover, owing to automation, these robots are capable of eliminating the use of expensive labor, thus saving time and money. This feature is expected to drive the demand for crop harvesting robots. The availability of a wide range of crop harvesting robots which can harvest crops such as grains and fruits and vegetables, This is a major factor driving the demand for crop harvesting robots in the market. However, the high upfront cost of acquiring these robots is one of the restraining factors hindering the growth of the crop harvesting robot market. Contrarily, technological developments in crop harvesting robot products such as adoption of cloud-based remote operation, use of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and others can boost the efficiency and productivity of the equipment. This is anticipated to create lucrative opportunities for the crop harvesting robot market growth during the forecast period.
Market Trends
- Key players in the crop harvesting robot market adopted acquisition as their key developmental strategy to expand their geographical foothold and upgrade their product technologies. For instance, in August 2021, John Deere agriculture equipment manufacturer announced definitive agreement to acquire the Silicon Valley-based startup ‘Bear Flag Robotics’ for $250 million. Bear Flag Robotics is a developer of autonomous driving technology which can be incorporated into existing machinery. This acquisition is going to help John Deere to enhance the features of their Agri-robots, especially crop harvesting robots.
- Similarly, businesses in the Agri-robot market and information technologies are partnering together in order to produce the best crop harvesting robots. For instance, in December 2021, Inaho B.V., an Agri-robot manufacturer, partnered with Green PEAK-IT, an IT service provider. Inhao has established a data connection between its tomato harvesting robot and the Green PEAK-IT platform. Both companies will closely work on combining the robotics and data platform for further business development.
- Businesses in the farming sector are expanding into the rapidly growing market of Agri-robots. For instance, in April 2021, AppHarvest, a solution provider for indoor farming, acquired Root AI, a developer of robotic systems to help manage in-door farms by making high-tech harvesting robots.
Key Benefits of the Report
- This study presents the analytical depiction of the crop harvesting robot industry along with the current trends and future estimations to determine the future investment pockets.
- The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities along with detailed analysis of the crop harvesting robot market share.
- The current market is quantitatively analyzed to highlight the crop harvesting robot market growth scenario.
- Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers & suppliers in the market.
- The report provides a detailed crop harvesting robot market analysis based on competitive intensity and how the competition will take shape in coming years.
Crop Harvesting Robot Market Report Highlights
| Aspects | Details |
 By Harvesting Type |
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 By Automation Level Type |
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 By Business Type |
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 By End-user Industry |
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 By Region |
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