Thorvald is an autonomous modular robot that can be configured for most agricultural environments. This means the robotic platform can be re-configured to accommodate various conditions and perform different tasks on a farm. Thorvald can operate in open fields, tunnels, orchards and greenhouses and perform tasks such as UV-treatment, picking fruits and vegetables, phenotyping, in-field transportation, cutting grass for forage, spraying and data collection/crop prediction. Thorvald is autonomous so it operates entirely on its own. Small, lightweight robots with AI such as Thorvald is the start of a new and more sustainable agriculture. New tasks (like UV-treatment to fight fungi diseases), replacement of manual tasks (like harvesting), precision farming providing optimal conditions for plants, and reduced soil compaction problems are some examples of what the future holds. In addition to this, we take part in solving major problems such as food shortages, a more environmentally friendly production processes and making farming more profitable. Saga Robotics will commercialize Thorvald in 2019 starting off with UV-treatment to fight mildew as well as pilot testing of our strawberry harvester. The first version of the strawberry harvester is due to be ready by 2020.

Making farming greener while increasing yield and food production

Thorvald has the ability to improve current farming practices in a variety of ways. Tasks requiring manual labour, such as strawberry picking, are made easier by reducing the need to find labourers. This is especially useful in areas struggling to find agricultural labour such as the USA and UK. In addition, Thorvald is small and lightweight compared with modern farming equipment. This means that Thorvald has a small impact on the environment and the quality of farmland due to a reduction in soil compaction. Thorvald can also improve the efficiency and profitability of a farm by doing tasks such as mechanical weeding with machine vision. Robotic weeding using light treatment and precision spraying reduces the amount of pesticides required which is not only a financial bonus but also helps to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. Finally, agriculture is one of the major industries yet to adopt data analysis techniques to help improve production and efficiency. Farming operations can be improved dramatically by systematic data collection, a task Thorvald can undertake simultaneously with other tasks.

Our mission

To transform farming into a service sector, making agriculture more profitable with reduced risk to the farmer, more environmentally friendly, and to produce cheaper, better and healthier food.

Our vision
To become a leading provider of robotic and knowledge-based farming services.

What makes us different?
Many agricultural robotics companies have created specialized robots that can each do a single task in one type of environment. Thorvald, however, is modular and can be easily assembled to operate in different types of farms and to work with a variety of tools. We have a partner model that permits others to build tools for the robot allowing us to develop applications rapidly. For these reasons we will be able to produce robots on a large scale at an affordable cost. We will be a strong competitor, both with standard farming practices and with other small specialized robots developed for agriculture.

First test of grass cutting - Video