GV, formerly Google Ventures, has led a US$10 million Series A funding in California-based Abundant Robotics, a start-up developing a solution to the apple industry's ongoing labor shortage issues with the use of vacuum technology. 

Also involved in the investment were BayWa AG, Tellus Partners, Yamaha Motor Company, KPCB Edge and Comet Labs.

In conjunction with the funding, Andy Wheeler, a general partner at GV - the venture capital arm of U.S. conglomerate Alphabet -  has been added to Abundant Robotics’ board of directors.

A release from Abundant said it would use the funding to "commercialize several years of successful research initiatives in agricultural robotics, and continue preparing its first product for commercial launch, a robotic apple harvester."

The company has raised US$12 million in venture funding to-date.

Orchards generate approximately US$200 billion of fresh fruit production annually, yet they remain nearly as dependent on grueling manual labor as they did 100 years ago, the release explained.

"Critical tasks such as harvesting, thinning, and pruning rely on seasonal surges of manual labor. And, while orchard yields have improved significantly in the last 20 years, labor productivity has not," it said.

"Without large-scale improvements, fruit and vegetable production will fail to meet the needs of population growth and improved standards of health."

Abundant is focused on meeting the needs of this growing challenge in agriculture. In late 2015, with research funding from the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission and SRI International, Abundant’s team demonstrated a robotic harvester prototype, described as "the first commercially viable solution for orchard harvesting."

Abundant spun out from SRI in 2016 to commercialize this technology and transform orchard automation. The company will initially focus on apple harvesting, and in the long-term expects to automate additional types of fresh fruit production.

“Our mission is to bring automation to the hardest jobs in agriculture” Abundant Robotics CEO and co-founder Dan Steere said.

“We’re excited to work with investors who share our vision for delivering productivity growth needed to support the world’s growing population and improving standards of health.”

Wheeler said growers were "eagerly looking for an automation solution to solve labor surge issues, and Abundant Robotics is the first of its kind to meet these specialized needs."

“Between the founding team’s deep expertise in agricultural robotics, and the wide potential for expanding beyond apples to adjacent crops, Abundant Robotics is well-positioned to disrupt the orchard harvesting market," he said.

A representative of BayWa AG, which is now a minority shareholder, said the investment underlay the multinational's efforts in "gradually expanding digitisation in the agribusiness."

“We aim to provide our farmers with access to the latest technologies and smart solutions for cultivation as well as the downstream sector," CEO Klaus-Josef Lutz said.

BayWa also highlighted it was getting involved especially for the interest of its pome fruit focused subsidiaries T&G Global Ltd. in New Zealand and BayWa Obst GmbH & Co. KG in Germany.

It added the first robotic systems were expected to be ready for the market "in the next few years."

Abundant Robotics was founded by Dan Steere, Curt Salisbury, and Michael Eriksen, who share early backgrounds in agriculture. The founding team previously worked together at SRI, where they applied leading-edge robotics expertise to agricultural production.

Salisbury was a leader in SRI’s robotics group and Eriksen, a software architect, was a key collaborator. Steere initially served as an entrepreneur in residence at SRI Ventures, advising Abundant Robotics before leading the venture full-time.

Related story: U.S.: California start-up developing autonomous apple vacuum

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