In the quiet, orderly rows of a New Zealand kiwifruit orchard, the most valuable piece of machinery is not a tractor. It is a person. Robotics Plus, a company founded in a Tauranga shed in 2008, has spent the last sixteen years building the machines meant to replace that person, not with a single-purpose robot, but with a Swiss Army knife on wheels.
Their flagship, the Prospr, is an autonomous, modular vehicle. For a starting price between $230,000 and $250,000, a grower gets a battery-electric platform that can be fitted with different tools: a tower sprayer for apples one week, a mower for vineyard undergrowth the next, and a sensor array for crop load estimation after that. The first units are already working in vineyards and apple orchards in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States.
A modular answer to a seasonal problem
Robotics Plus chose a different wedge: the high-value, permanent crop orchard. Prospr is designed to be the constant in that seasonal cycle. Its core value is not just autonomy, but interchangeability. The company has developed a suite of swappable implements, and the vehicle uses a combination of perception systems to navigate tight rows and perform precise tasks.
The long road from shed to scale
Co-founders Steve Saunders and Dr. Alistair Scarfe brought together the two sides of the equation. Saunders, the CEO, comes from horticulture and agribusiness. Scarfe, the CTO, is the mechanical engineer and robotics expert. Their partnership fused "ag expert" with "tech expert" to commercialize what they call MARS technologies: Mechanisation, Automation, Robotics, and Sensors [University of Auckland Business School, 2020].
Before Prospr, the team built a portfolio of niche solutions:
- Robotic apple packer: Operates at over 100 fruit per minute.
- Autonomous kiwifruit harvester: A specialized machine for a famously delicate fruit.
- Mobile Log Scaler: Billed as the world's first robotic machine for measuring forestry loads [Robotics Plus].
The most significant validation came from Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd., which by the end of 2018 had invested a total of NZ$10 million into Robotics Plus [University of Auckland Business School, 2020].
Traction in the field
After years of development that began in 2018, Prospr moved from prototype to commercial product in late 2023. The company now estimates it has between 80 and 200 employees, and third-party data suggests annual revenue around $6.3 million [ZoomInfo] [LinkedIn].
| Product | Primary Use | Key Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Prospr UGV | Autonomous multi-use platform for orchards/vineyards | $230k-$250k starting price |
| Aporo Fruit Packer | Automated apple packing | 100+ fruit per minute |
| Mobile Log Scaler | Robotic forestry measurement | First of its kind [Robotics Plus] |
Where the wheels could come off
- The price point: At a quarter of a million dollars, Prospr is a major capital expenditure.
- Service and support: Building a responsive, global service and parts network is a colossal operational challenge.
- The incumbent alternative: The competition is not just other startups; it is the classic tractor.
The next harvest
The company has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. as of February 2025. The coming twelve months will be about proving the model beyond early adopters. Watch for two signals: announced partnerships with major grower cooperatives in the US or Europe, and the unveiling of new, more complex implement modules for Prospr.
Robotics Plus is not trying to be the most futuristic robot in the field. It is trying to be the most reliable, multi-purpose tool on the farm's balance sheet.