- Arugga leverages advanced AI and data analytics to enhance farming with a scope of offering real-time insights that could be beneficial for farmers.
- With automated technology, the company helps reduce labor expenses and increase the efficacy of operations.
- Arugga employs accurate methods to track and monitor the crop yield quality.
In the ever-evolving backdrop of agriculture, Arugga transitions itself into a pioneer in enhancing productivity and efficacy by leveraging technology and integration of AI.
An Israel-based venture capital-backed company, Arugga was founded in 2017.
In the modern agritech revolution, the company aims at transforming the standard of greenhouse vegetable farming, by offering innovative solutions designed to bring in a coherent system of monitoring the plants by designing the first autonomous robot.
The Mantra: Sustainability through Innovation
Eytan Heller, the co-founder of Arugga AI Farming, is an entrepreneur and social activist, whose aim is to transform greenhouse vegetable farming into a data-driven, automated, optimized, and efficient field by developing ground robots to treat and monitor individual plants.
“Generally speaking, our solution is non-contact, which minimizes risk of viruses being transmitted between plants by workers or bees,” Heller told AFN.
With rapidly growing challenges across the world in the agritech sector, Arugga strives to contribute to the industry by easing the challenges of finding and retaining workers, simultaneously making producers more competitive.
The company also proposes a solution to reduce the use of chemicals and the spread of diseases in fruit and vegetable farming, thereby contributing to a healthier and safer planet.
"We are proud to be the first company to commercialize a robot that successfully replicates (bumblebee) buzz pollination in tomato greenhouses," remarks Iddo Geltner, CEO, Co-founder Arugga
Even though the technology has not been widely adopted in the agricultural sector, preliminary data indicates that the robots could be more effective than natural bees, hand pollination, and flowers to attract bees.
Automation that Leads to Enhanced Efficacy
The automation systems significantly cut down the labor costs and manual errors, which are inevitable in traditional farming methods.
The technology introduced, Polly, which is the robotic platform for Arugga, will support several modules, including, but not limited to pollination, plant lowering, and non-contact pruning.
The robotic pollination technology was successfully tested in commercial greenhouses in Israel, Australia, and the United States showing results as good as and up to 20% higher yield versus manual pollination.
It also exhibited results as good as up to 5% higher yield than bumblebees.
The pollination robots will be able to work when both temperature and humidity levels are optimal in the greenhouse.
Equipped with cameras and AI-based computer vision, the robot can easily recognize the flowers ready for pollination.
The air-pressure mechanism further applies calibrated air pulses to the selected flower.
Predictive Analysis
Arugga has shown momentous growth and investor confidence, raising $1.87 million through multiple funding rounds since its seed in 2019.
Arugga's successful completion of later-stage VC funding highlights its continued progress and revenue generation.
The technology, on the other hand, with its predictive analytics employed to forecast potential issues and employ preventive measures, can turn out to be most crucial to mitigate risks; it can ensure optimal growing conditions for the crops.
Leveraging data and analytics, Arugga steers the farmers towards a better and more competitive edge in the market.
Edited By Annette George
