Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
4 min of reading 
0 comments 
Developed in China by research institutes and a technology company, the robot uses computer vision and arms with force sensors to identify and harvest ripe pods without damaging them. Presented in Nantong, the equipment achieved more than 90% accuracy and is seen as an advancement in agriculture, aiding in the harvest.
China has presented the country’s first robot designed to harvest fresh grains directly in the field, with an accuracy rate exceeding 90%. The demonstration took place in Nantong, Jiangsu province, and is considered by the sector as an important step towards agricultural automation, in response to labor shortages and the high cost of manual harvesting.
The machine was developed in partnership by the Nanjing Agricultural Mechanization Institute, Jiangsu Lanjiang Intelligent Technology company, and the Yangtze Provincial Agricultural Research Institute. To see and act, the robot combines computer vision, which identifies ripe pods even amidst dense vegetation, with several robotic arms equipped with force sensors, capable of holding the delicate pods without damaging them.
A robot that sees and harvests without damaging the grains
In practice, the equipment follows a pre-defined route through the field and analyzes the plants in real-time. The computer vision system can distinguish ripe pods from others, even when they are hidden behind leaves or overlapping branches. This precise visual recognition allows the robot to operate in a real plantation, not just in controlled laboratory conditions.
-
Couple leaves traditional jobs, bets on a rare business, creates a frog farm with 100,000 giant frogs in 108 pens in the far west of Santa Catarina and is already projecting growth.
-
Owner of the largest pig farm on the planet, the Chinese company Muyuan Foods sent executives to Mato Grosso to study pig production in Brazil, as a step by China to get closer to the source of feed and ensure food security, although the investment has not yet been confirmed.
-
The bill may become expensive for Brazilian slaughterhouses, with five plants suspended by China and the 2026 quota more than half expected, any shipment arriving late at Chinese ports may be surcharged by 55%, precisely when margins are already tight.
-
In Brazil, a farm impresses: larger than the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, it has 800 km of internal roads, a thousand residents, and produces soy and meat to supply China and Europe.
Once the right pod is identified, the robotic arms come into play. Each of them carries force sensors that measure the applied pressure, ensuring the pod is held firmly enough to be harvested but without crushing it. According to information released by the portal Xataka, this combination supports the accuracy rate above 90% and the so-called low-loss harvest, where few grains are wasted during the process.
Who is behind the technology
The project brings together three fronts: the Nanjing Institute of Agricultural Mechanization, the company Jiangsu Lanjiang Intelligent Technology, and the Yangtze Provincial Institute of Agricultural Research. According to Xia Xiaenfei, a researcher leading the agricultural robots group at the Nanjing institute, the team integrated advanced visual recognition and low-loss harvesting technologies into a single system, which is described as the equipment’s differentiator.
The initiative was supported by the National Technology System for Legumes, aimed precisely at advancing the production of beans and other legumes in the country. It was in this arrangement that tests were conducted in Nantong, in Jiangsu province, confirming the robot’s ability to clearly see and grasp the pods, paving the way for more efficient harvesting of fresh grains directly in the field.
Why harvesting fresh grains is so difficult
Harvesting fresh grains is more delicate than it seems. The pods are fragile and easily damaged, making manual work slow and expensive. Add to this the lack of labor in the field, a problem that pressures production costs and that many countries face as the rural population ages. It is this bottleneck that the new intelligent agricultural machine seeks to solve.
Another obstacle is technical. Dense vegetation and overlapping branches make it difficult for an automated system to identify exactly what should be harvested, and handling delicate items is often a challenge for robotics. By combining computer vision and force sensors, the robot tackles both problems at once, which helps explain why the sector sees the demonstration as a milestone for agriculture.
Part of a Chinese race for intelligent agriculture
The launch does not happen in a vacuum. China has been heavily investing in automation in the field, with AI-assisted harvesters, drones, and other intelligent machines, in an effort to modernize agriculture and reduce dependence on imported equipment. In this scenario, a robot capable of harvesting fresh grains with high precision fits into a broader strategy for China.
Even so, balance is needed: a successful field demonstration does not mean immediate large-scale adoption. Experts often remind that cost, maintenance, and adaptation to different crops and terrains are real challenges for any intelligent agricultural machine. What the presentation in Nantong shows is that the technology has moved beyond the drawing board and already works in practice, which in itself excites the sector.
The arrival of a robot that harvests fresh grains with over 90% accuracy raises a discussion that goes beyond the field: to what extent should automation replace human labor in agriculture, and who benefits from it?
Tell us in the comments if you think machines like this are the solution to the labor shortage or if you fear for jobs in the field.
Be the first to react!