Philadelphia-based Burro, an autonomous mobility company providing solutions for the agriculture industry, announces a new partnership with Salinas, Calif.-based Pacific Ag Rentals (PAR), a leading provider of agricultural tractor and equipment rentals in the U.S. The partnership will add autonomous Burro robots to PAR’s pool of equipment, with delivery available anywhere in the U.S. The autonomous agricultural robots will also remain available for sale directly through Burro or its network of distributors.
Burro is the leading autonomous robot available for increased productivity in conventional production environments. It features patented Pop Up Autonomy™, which means the technology is plug-and-play and works immediately out of the box. This empowers anyone on a job site to be an operator with minimal training. Burro does not require a centralized control or installation of burdensome infrastructure. Instead, the robots use computer vision (cameras), high-precision GPS and AI to learn and to navigate autonomously from points A to B while carrying harvested produce, towing plants in nurseries, as well as mowers and other partner technology applications.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZLSmDcjJSg&feature=youtu.be
“Because our technology is designed to be plug-and-play, farmers everywhere can integrate Burros into their operations seamlessly with a high ROI,” said Charlie Andersen, CEO, Burro. “Our goal is to increase access to this transformative technology anywhere needed in the ag industry. We are proud of our new partnership with PAR, which allows us to offer Burro rentals in addition to our existing purchasing options. Greater access to Burro equipment is one more step towards an autonomous future, where robots do the labor that people no longer want or need to do.”
“The decision to lease farm equipment instead of purchasing it makes a lot of sense for farmers who want the flexibility to quickly augment operations with new technology,” said Bartley Walker, CEO, PAR. “Our goal is to provide farmers with flexible options that work for them, affordably and conveniently. Bringing in Burro’s autonomous solutions as a rental option means our customers have access to the latest innovative equipment proven to improve their productivity, profitability and safety.”
Two significant operational challenges facing the agriculture industry today are an unprecedented shortage of field laborers and increasing labor costs. Burro alleviates these challenges by enabling force multiplication of workers by taking on their burden of carrying and towing heavy loads, while also boosting profitability. Burro is proven to help agricultural clients realize improvements in efficiency by up to 40 percent. In addition to these core capabilities, Burro robots also autonomously follow, scout, patrol and can be outfitted with third-party equipment, such as automatic pollinators, to boost productivity further.
Burro has hundreds of robots actively around the world and has achieved the industry-leading milestone of having traveled well over 50,000 autonomous miles in support of high-value permanent crop growers (such as table-grape, berry, citrus and stone-fruit farms), as well as commercial nurseries and greenhouses.
Source : Pacificagrentals