The autonomous robotics innovation developed by the FRUCTHOR-IA project is officially making the leap from research centres to fruit and vegetable farms. The field validation and demonstration phase (GT2) is currently accelerating, aiming to test artificial intelligence solutions under real environmental and production conditions across the Sudoe space.
The establishment of locations, dates, and criteria for the trials in the Iberian Peninsula has generated significant public interest. In Portugal, the promotional efforts led by the Association of Municipalities of Cova da Beira (AMCB) received extensive coverage in national and regional media (such as the SAPO portal and O Interior newspaper), which highlighted the sector’s urgent need to adopt technologies to address labour shortages.
Simultaneously, in Spain, the consolidation of this timeline was driven by the technical coordinator CAR-CSIC, marking the project’s practical advancement. The relevance of the technologies being implemented—specifically the vision and AI systems developed in partnership with companies like Agerpix Technologies—has been the subject of in-depth analysis in the specialized Spanish press, with Agrodiario Huelva emphasizing the consortium’s revolutionary role in the sustainable modernization of agriculture.
The FRUCTHOR-IA pilot trials will cover different crops (such as vineyards, berries, among others) and will validate the efficiency of human-robot collaborative work, ensuring adaptable solutions that support farmers in their digital transition.
Project co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Sudoe Programme. The views expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not reflect the views of the European Commission.