Japanese motoring giant Yamaha has invested US$8 million in Kiwi ag-tech startup Robotics Plus, the company has announced. The latest cash injection, equal to about NZ$12m, brings Yamaha Motor Company's total investment in the company to $US10m, after a partnership agreement and US$2m investment in March. Robotics Plus co-founder and chairman Steve Saunders, who is working to establish a US subsidiary for the company, said Yamaha's investment would support the vision to grow the Tauranga-based company into a global business. "This investment will allow us to take the company to the next level and attract and retain the world class talent we need," Saunders said. READ MORE: * Horticulture employers must clean up their act to address its worker shortage * Robotics could be answer to worldwide labour shortages in cropping industry * Canterbury tech firm scores European aviation contract, eyes further expansion "To stay ahead of the opportunity we need to scale quickly, not just with our apple packers that are already in market, but also with our new UGV [Unmanned Ground Vehicle] platform technology and other projects under development." ​Hiro Saijo, chief executive of Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, said the investment would help the company reach its goal of making agriculture more sustainable, healthy, and secure. "To meet the significant and increasing agriculture demands of today and tomorrow, including agricultural labour shortage globally, we need to create sophisticated and precision robotics and automation technologies that will transform the agricultural industries," he said. In May, Robotics Plus launched its robotic Āporo apple packers, the first in a suite of technologies addressing labour shortages in agriculture and horticulture industries. The apple packer, which identifies and places apples in display trays, can safely handle up to 120 fruit per minute and is already operating in packhouses in New Zealand and the United States. Other technologies under development include an autonomous agricultural vehicle, robotic kiwifruit harvester, robotic pollinator, and crop estimator. Through its partnership with Yamaha, Robotics Plus could access experience, knowledge and technologies used in outdoor vehicles, factory automation, robotics, design for manufacturing and manufacturing. Chief executive Matt Glenn said the relationship was mutually beneficial and Yamaha stood to gain from working with Robotics Plus as a world-leading agricultural and horticultural robotics and automation business. "We have a highly skilled development team located close to orchards and other agricultural environments," Glenn said. "We can rapidly prototype new ideas, validate new components and integrate these into our robotic systems. This will also create new opportunities to develop technologies in other markets, too."
Yamaha Motor has invested $8m in agtech start-up Robotics Plus, after initially investing $2m in May. The funds will be used to help expand the New Zealand-based company into an international business, while helping Yamaha make agriculture more "sustainable, healthy, and secure" by tackling labour shortages, said Hiro Saijo, the CEO of Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley. Robotics Plus launched a robotic apple packer called Aporo in March and is developing an autonomous agricultural vehicle, robotic kiwifruit harvester, robotic pollinator and crop estimator.