The new Kubota All-Terrain Robot — KATR — doesn’t look like a typical farm machine. Its four independently articulated wheels are attached to hydraulically bendable legs that conform to the ground’s contours, maintaining stability.

“It’s a small, versatile platform,” says Brett McMickell, chief technology officer of Kubota North America. “In its very simple form, you can use it for material transport like moving pipe fittings in a construction zone or carrying boxes in a vineyard.”

Various attachments can be added to a cargo platform outfitted on the autonomous robot, which was unveiled at this year’s consumer electronics show CES in Las Vegas. There, Kubota engineers demonstrated the KATR’s capabilities by equipping it with Kubota’s Smart Plant Imager, which captures hyperspectral images and separates the light into individual wavelengths. Because every material reacts uniquely to light waves, an onboard computer can quickly differentiate between objects based on their spectral signatures.

At the show, Kubota demonstrated the KATR with its Smart Plant Imager to showcase its ability to remotely measure the quality of grapes, such as their pH and sugar content. The robot can also be integrated with Kubota’s Bloomfield Robotics Flash camera to count fruit nut size and color, and to look for pests and disease.

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“The other vineyard application is a smart robotic pruner,” McMickell says. When equipped, “as [the KATR] moves through the vineyard, it identifies buds, cores and leaves, making optimal cuts on the vines.”

The KATR won an innovation award at CES. Kubota plans to launch it for purchase in Japan this year.

SELF-DRIVING TRACTOR: Kubota is also showcasing a self-driving electric tractor concept, the Agri Concept 2.0.

Other autonomous machines

Alongside the KATR, Kubota showcased a self-driving electric tractor concept, labeled the Agri Concept 2.0, and and a fully autonomous smart sprayer that can simultaneously scout for pests using the Bloomfield Flash camera, and autonomously spray with precision. It can reduce spray drift and product overuse.

Combined, McMickell says Kubota’s latest machines represent a renewed focus at the machinery brand to address the full “work loop,” a cycle that includes “assessing, analyzing and acting. … With the integration of advanced sensors, AI-driven analysis, networking protocols, automation and robotics, we are enhancing this cycle to be more seamless and efficient than ever before.”

For more information, visit kubota.com.