Bonsai Robotics acquires farm-ng to herald new era of ‘AI-first machines that will transform crop management’

Two key players in AI-powered ag robotics have joined forces this week, with San Jose-based Bonsai Robotics acquiring farm-ng for an undisclosed sum. Existing shareholders of both companies will retain ownership stakes in the newly combined entity.

Brendan Dowdle, former CEO of farm-ng, is the chief business officer of the new company, which has also brought on industry heavyweight John Teeple (former director of technology at John Deere) as COO, and Gary Bradski (a key figure in the evolution of computer vision and founder of OpenCV) as chief science officer.

San Jose, CA-based Bonsai, founded by Tyler Niday and Ugur Oezdemirin in 2022, deploys AI and computer vision to help nut and citrus growers in tough environments without GPS or cellular connections deploy autonomous vehicles, cutting labor costs and driving efficiency. Its tech can be bolted onto existing machinery or designed into new vehicles.

Watsonville, CA-based farm-ng, founded by Ethan Rublee in 2020, makes lightweight modular electric robots to conduct a range of tasks on the farm including soil preparation, planting, and harvesting in crops from lettuce to grapes. Its AI-powered ‘Amiga’ platform is targeted at small and medium-sized farming operations.

The firms will combine Bonsai’s expertise in software and Farm-ng’s expertise in hardware to create solutions that boost efficiency and cut costs across a wider array of crops, tasks, and agricultural environments, said Niday, who spent seven years at Blue River Technology and John Deere, playing a key role in the latter’s ‘See & Spray’ technology before launching Bonsai.

Prior to Blue River, he designed agricultural equipment for the tree nut industry at Orchard Machinery Corporation, a key OEM now working with Bonsai Robotics.

“To date, our vision has been to make autonomy and AI accessible, easy to use, and deployable across all farm equipment whether retrofitted onto existing tractors or built into the next generation machine,” said Niday. “This acquisition allows us to now develop those next generation machines to augment and empower today’s workforce while optimizing farm productivity.”

Goal: To be leader in autonomy for intelligent outdoor machines in adverse environments

Niday told AgFunderNews: “We’ve been on one side of the specialty crop space [tree crops], and farm-ng has been on the other [bedded crops, vineyards]. We’re the only two companies that have the same approach to these bigger end-to-end AI models, so the data will enable us to build a tech stack that’s able to adapt to all these environments.

“Our vision is to be the world leader in autonomy for software for intelligent outdoor machines in adverse environments. To do that, we really need three things.

“The first is that simple and usable app that growers can use to manage their mixed fleets. The second is the ability to work on existing form factors and machines.

“The third is to unlock this bigger vision to have new form factors on the farm. With autonomy, you’re not just focused on replacing existing machines. You can do more if you’re not designing around a human, you’re designing around an autonomous system so you can make advanced innovations that not only reduce labor, but reduce capex and opex.

“With this acquisition, we’re truly able to do all three and position ourselves as the leader in the space.”

In practical terms, he said, Bonsai has “been extremely software oriented” whereas farm-ng has focused on hardware. “So we now can use their compute, their sensors… Whereas we were getting off the shelf components, we now have the optionality to empower our OEMs with electric modulars and hybrid electric platforms.”

Asked to look ahead to what the partnership could bring to farms, he said, “Let’s imagine table grapes, which are hand-harvested. So we have one centralized app to run big machines that are doing spraying. And then you could use the same app to control a fleet of farm-ng Amiga platforms to help during harvest and pick up. So your data from spraying to harvest will all live in that one centralized location.”

farm-ng is best-known for its lightweight modular electric robots that can conduct a range of tasks on the farm including soil preparation, planting, and harvesting in crops from lettuce to grapes. Image credit: farm-ng

‘A tremendous year’

Stepping back to look at ag robotics more generally, said Niday, “I think what held things back in the early days was there weren’t enough boots on the ground… a lot of times the machines looked like they were from Silicon Valley and not from an ag OEM that has been in this environment for a long time.

“But I do think there’s been a lot of success recently and you’re starting to see some companies that are crossing $100 million in revenue. So times are changing, and what we’ve seen is a much bigger acceptance and adoption. We’re looking at having a pretty tremendous year of sales in the orchard space because people are more willing to adopt new technology and labor is a huge issue.”

He added: “With this new approach of end-to-end AI models, I do believe we’re entering a time where these things [mechanically harvesting more delicate/challenging crops, for example] are becoming much more achievable.

“At Bonsai, we’re really focused on not just labor replacement, but finding more efficient practices for things like shaking and sweeping [for tree nuts]. So in both of those instances, we’re able to go at twice the speed, which has a huge impact.

“Our AR 500 autonomous tractors are really starting to take off globally right now started as shuttle trucks for almonds, a piece of equipment that’s only used for 45 days of the year [to collect almonds and deliver them to an elevator], costs somewhere around $200,000, and then is basically parked.

“We saw the opportunity to turn them into autonomous tractors that can do spraying, mowing, all these other functions, but with a tighter turning radius [than a traditional tractor]. It’s really a multi-function tool for the off-season.”

Bonsai has had “a tremendous year,” he said. “This is our first year of commercial deployments and we have over 50 machines deployed globally in the US and Australia, and we’re exceeding our expected numbers and still have quite a bit of runway, which is really exciting.”