Bonsai Robotics, a vision-based autonomous software company, has acquired Farm-ng, a developer of modular electric robots. Bonsai Robotics says this move will help the company deliver AI solutions with the integration of both companies’ technologies.
Tyler Niday, CEO and co-founder of Bonsai Robotics, says adding Farm-ng complements both companies — with Bonsai bringing the software expertise and Farm-ng bringing modular autonomy.
“With this acquisition, we are able to develop a unified platform that is complementary to our OEM partners and capable of addressing the variability across form factors, crop types and geographies to deliver effective and reliable autonomy in the field,” says Ugur Oezdemir, co-founder and CTO of Bonsai.
The companies, too, say this combination of intelligent software and advanced robotic hardware offers cost-effective, mixed-fleet solutions for growers.
“We’re empowering our OEM partners with lower cost, high-performance hardware, and also unlocking the ability for electrification and new ways of doing things right,” Niday says.
Niday says he’s seeing this transition from iron to software, which means growers need technology that works on an existing fleet as well as easy-to-understand software.
“Regardless of if it’s a vineyard or an orchard or an open field, you need a simple and intuitive app and data center for you to store and log all your data,” Niday says. “You need the ability to add intelligence to the existing fleet of machines.”
He says growers also need the ability to change farming practices, not just replace or optimize labor with robotics, which is enabled by autonomy.
“Tractors were built around a human, and adding autonomy and 360-degree vision and eyes on the back of the machine’s head enables new ways of doing things,” Niday says.
Niday says this has been a very strong year for both companies, so he says it’s a “1+1=3” equation with the acquisition of Farm-ng.
Joining the Bonsai team includes John Teeple as chief operating officer and Gary Bradski, chief science officer. Teeple is the former director of technology at John Deere and Bradski is the founder of OpenCV and has played a key role in the evolution of computer vision.
“We truly believe we’ll be pressing the boundary for AI-first design and what’s possible with AI,” Niday says. “Our vision is to really be the world leaders in autonomy for software for intelligent outdoor machinery.”
