Agriculture is one of Scotland’s most important industries, but it faces growing challenges from labour shortages, rising costs, increasing sustainability demands and pressure to improve productivity.
At The National Robotarium, we work directly with farmers, growers and agricultural organisations to develop robotic and autonomous solutions that tackle these real-world challenges, ensuring technology is shaped by the needs of the sector rather than the other way around
Since its inception, The National Robotarium has been at the forefront of agricultural robotics research and innovation, exploring how automation, AI and advanced connectivity can support tasks such as crop monitoring, disease detection, soil analysis, precision spraying and livestock management. Through collaborations with industry partners including The James Hutton Institute, Scotland 5G Centre, Boston Dynamics and Freshwave, we have demonstrated how technologies such as private 5G networks and mobile robotic systems can bring precision agriculture to even the most remote rural environments.
Our approach begins with farmers. Through workshops and engagement activities across Scotland, we have worked closely with agricultural businesses to understand the practical barriers to adopting new technologies. These conversations have shown that farmers are eager to embrace innovation when it delivers clear benefits, trusted evidence and practical solutions to everyday challenges.
Potato growers across Scotland are facing increasing pressure from labour shortages, tighter retailer specifications and rising operational costs. At the same time, advances in robotics, artificial intelligence and machine vision are creating new opportunities to automate grading and improve quality control. However, many farmers lack the time and resources needed to assess a rapidly evolving technology landscape.
To support this crucial investment decision-making, Robotics Engineer Rahul Ramachandran produced a comprehensive horizon scanning report examining potato grading technologies available across the UK and Europe, alongside a practical farmer-facing guide designed to translate complex technical information into clear, actionable advice. The research assessed 24 manufacturers and technology providers, from traditional mechanical grading systems to advanced AI-enabled optical sorters, evaluating their suitability for Scottish farming conditions.
Credit Ben Glasgow photography c/o The National Robotarium
Project Manager Ruth Plant (r) with BBC Landward presenter Cammy Wilson
The challenge facing modern agriculture is clear: farmers must increase productivity while reducing costs, labour demands and environmental impact. Yet many of the technologies that could help, including advanced robotics and autonomous systems, rely on fast, reliable connectivity that is often unavailable in remote rural areas.
To address this challenge, The National Robotarium, The James Hutton Institute, Scotland 5G Centre, Boston Dynamics and Freshwave collaborated to develop 5G-connected robotic solutions for agriculture.
Using portable private 5G networks, the partnership enabled robotic platforms – in this case, Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot – to operate effectively in rural environments, carrying out crop monitoring, soil assessment and precision farming tasks in real time
The project secured widespread, global media coverage, including a dedicated feature on STV News, BBC Scotland’s flagship farming programme Landward, and Reuters. Boston Dynamics also amplified the collaboration globally through a published case study to its 1.5m+ followers.
Understanding the real barriers to agritech adoption
To better understand why robotics and automation are not being adopted more widely across Scottish agriculture, The National Robotarium partnered with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) to deliver a series of workshops with crop, arable, livestock and potato farmers across the Highlands and Islands. The aim was to move beyond assumptions about technology resistance and hear directly from farmers about the challenges facing their businesses and their perceptions of emerging technologies.
The workshops revealed strong interest in automation and robotics, particularly in areas such as crop monitoring, disease detection, grading, soil sampling, animal health monitoring and shed cleaning. However, participants consistently identified a lack of time, trusted advice and opportunities to test technologies in real-world conditions as the main barriers to adoption, rather than cost or scepticism about innovation. Farmers wanted independent expertise and proven examples from peers before committing to new systems.
The findings challenged common perceptions about the sector and provided valuable evidence for policymakers, technology developers and industry stakeholders. By creating a forum for open discussion between farmers and robotics experts, the workshops helped identify practical pathways for accelerating technology adoption, including the need for regional testing facilities, demonstration environments and impartial technical guidance.
Steve Maclaren at the 5G Robotics for Farming showcase event – June 2025
Crover, one of our first industry residents, are developing a unique burrowing robot to ‘swim’ through grain and analyse and asses the environmental conditions of grain bulks. Data gathered by the robotic drone can offer arable farmers better insights into moisture and temperature levels, allowing them to make informed decisions that can reduce pest infestation, crop damage and waste.
In spring 2023, the National Robotarium became the first commercial buyers of a Tom v4 robot from the Small Robot Company. Tom v4 is a pioneering autonomous robot that helps farmers better monitor the health status of individual crop plants and reduce herbicide.
In partnership with the James Hutton Institute, Tom will be tested in real crop fields to assess its capabilities for advancing agricultural research and precision breeding.
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, Scotland
UK EH14 4AS
Scottish registered charity number SC000278
The University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
EH8 9YL
Scottish registered charity number SC005336
