Signature Event Series: Robots in Food Technology

The agricultural robots market is projected to grow from USD 4.6 billion in 2020 to USD 20.3 billion by 2025, a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 34.5% according to Markets and Markets (data from this report.) Reducing number of laborers, growing population, and increasing requirement for high productivity from the existing farm areas are factors fueling the growth of the agricultural robot’s market. The maturity of existing agricultural technologies and the introduction of new agricultural technologies are expected to act as opportunities for the market in the long term.

On April 13th, we held our first Robots in Food Tech Event, and kicked off our Signature Series for 2021. In this series, we delve into an industry that has challenges that can be solved with robotics and AI technologies and offer a platform for information sharing between potential solution providers and those who could benefit from robotics and AI adoption. This series in the past has covered the logistics, defense, manufacturing, and construction industries.

For this event we teamed with the Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute at Tufts University and heard from food supply chain companies, learnt about their challenges, and discovered areas where the adoption of robotics and AI can help.

Participants included Grimmway Farms, Jacobs Farm Del Cabo and Tyson Manufacturing Automation Center (TMAC). Each shared their challenges and showed current automation processes.

The second half of the event was kicked off with a presentation on Agriculture 4.0 and how to make it a reality by Vijay Somandepalli, cofounder and CTO of American Robotics.

A number of Agriculture and Food Tech startups then made short presentations highlighting their technologies that provide potential solutions to the food supply chain industry.

They included: 

There were great discussions following the event, leading to great connections. The recording for the event can be found on our MassRobotics YouTube Channel here.