With 2023 upon us, the number of people working in agriculture looking to utilize robots and automation is at an all-time high. Naïo Technologies, which has more than 400 robots deployed worldwide, has been a leader in helping farmers with this tech, with its robots able to perform tasks like weeding on specialty crop operations.

Naïo Technologies Ted

“We have three things going for us that are different than everyone else in the sector,” said Christian Melendez, Naïo’s director of sales for North America. “Our robots are completely electric, are completely autonomous, and they all have built-in RTK GPS to provide maximum accuracy. While those features individually are not unique, together in one platform across an entire product line, is very unique.”

Christian Melendez, Director of Sales for North America, Naïo Technologies

The company has developed several robots that are being employed in the US. Oz is a 51-by-18.5-inch electric robot that can autonomously hoe, weed, make furrows, and seed fields. It travels at a little over a mile per hour and has a battery that can last up to eight hours. TED is a six-foot robot for vineyards that can drive over the tops of vineyard rows and weed with blades, disks, and plows. 

Naïo’s newest robots are Orio, which is an autonomous tool carrier for vegetables and industrial crops, and Jo, an autonomous crawler for narrow vines farming.

Naïo Technologies Orio

“Jo is a narrow robot designed for very tight vineyard applications, nursery crops, and berry crops grown in tight tunnels,” Melendez said. “It will also help out in table grapes, where it’s very hard to get anything inside due to the wide trellis design, and Jo is designed to work under those conditions. And with table grapes being among the 'Big Three' of crops with the most pesticides, now the organic grower has the opportunity to use a mechanical weed removal robot, and it’s more feasible.”

Naïo Technologies Jo

Naïo's robots are beneficial to growers in multiple ways: Today, many farmers are getting subsidies to install solar panels, which enables them to use the sun as a charging resource for the robots; the RTK GPS allows growers to get closer to the crop; and Naïo's electric motors are more reliable than combustion engines.

“Another way they can help a grower out is weight wise our units are substantially less than a standard John Deere tractor, so a farmer can get in during rough weather conditions because there’s less weight on the soil,” Melendez said. “This allows the farmer to work while it’s wet, where normally he would have to wait until the soil was more dried out.”

The company was started in 2011 by Gaëtan Séverac and Aymeric Barthes, who were students at one of the top technical institutions of France at the time. The two went to visit an uncle, who was working in agriculture, and he asked if they could build a robot to help the farm with weeding because labor was becoming a serious issue.

“Our robots are completely electric, are completely autonomous, and they all have built-in RTK GPS to provide maximum accuracy. While those features individually are not unique, together in one platform across an entire product line, is very unique.” - Christian Melendez

“Knowing it was a great idea because everyone has to eat, the two started the process, and here we are 12 years later, and we have a whole family of robots,” Melendez said. “At the end of the day, it’s about saving growers money because manual labor is getting harder to come by and is very expensive.”

Naïo Technologies Oz

Naïo's robots are currently built in France, and both the hardware and software is owned by Naïo Technologies, which is rare in the industry and means the company is able to quickly resolve any potential problems.

Naïo recently got another $35 million in funding and plans to expand operations in the near future, including building robots in America in the next two years.

“We have three to four robots in different stages of development, and we’re definitely looking to expand the market,” Melendez said. “America is a very important market for us, and that’s what we’re looking to expand dramatically.” 

“At the end of the day, it’s about saving growers money because manual labor is getting harder to come by and is very expensive.” - Christian Melendez

The goal of Naïo Technologies since the beginning has been to share its field expertise on environmental transition and regenerative agriculture challenges with farmers.

“In this sector, you have a lot of companies coming in, especially from big players, and we see that as a positive for our industry because it brings more attention to the industry, and there’s plenty of room for everyone,” Melendez said. “We all have to eat on this planet, and the more attention we get on this sector, the better it is for everyone.”