The French partners of Agrobotics-DiTwins, Aquitaine Robotics and the XLIM research teams at the University of Limoges, took part in Vi-TIC 2026, a major professional event dedicated to digital and robotic innovation for the wine and viticulture sector.
Held at Château Luchey-Halde in Mérignac, the trade fair brought together winegrowers, vineyard managers, agricultural advisers, technology companies, research organisations and innovation stakeholders. It provided an ideal setting to introduce Agrobotics-DiTwins and explain how the project is supporting the uptake of robotics, artificial intelligence and digital twins among agricultural SMEs.
During the event, Aquitaine Robotics and XLIM presented the project’s approach, which is centred on a transnational network of Living Labs. These collaborative environments will bring companies, farmers, researchers and technology providers together to design, simulate and validate solutions addressing real operational needs.
Visitors explored a range of Agriculture 5.0 applications, including robotics, traceability systems, decision-support tools and digital twin technologies. Live demonstrations showed how these solutions can help model agricultural operations, compare different scenarios and optimise vineyard practices before implementation under real-world conditions.
Vi-TIC 2026 featured around 50 exhibiting companies and attracted several hundred professional visitors. The event enabled the project partners to connect directly with technology providers, researchers and end users, while also exploring potential cooperation for future pilot activities and technology-transfer initiatives.
The discussions also provided valuable feedback on the sector’s technological needs, the main barriers to innovation uptake and the support required by agricultural businesses. These insights will help shape the project’s upcoming co-creation, training and validation activities and ensure that its Living Labs respond effectively to the challenges faced by the viticulture sector.