Antobot Will Deploy 300 Farming Robots by 2027
The startup is transitioning its business model to equipment ownership as it expands its UV-C light pathogen control systems.
Updated on Oct. 1, 2026 in Robotics
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Antobot, an agricultural robotics firm, aims to have 300 autonomous units deployed in strawberry crops by 2027. The company is currently moving away from its previous robots-as-a-service model toward direct equipment sales.
Why it matters
Growers are increasingly adopting autonomous systems to reduce labor costs, input expenditures, and reliance on chemical fungicides. This shift to customer-owned hardware allows Antobot to scale its reach beyond its initial regional operations in the UK, Europe, and Asia.
The autonomous robots use UV-C light to neutralize fungal pathogens in strawberry plants. This method targets and damages pathogen DNA to prevent replication, providing a non-chemical alternative to traditional agricultural fungicides.
The players
Antobot
An agricultural robotics company that builds autonomous systems for crop pathogen management using UV-C light.
Ke Lu
The co-founder of Antobot who launched the company in 2019 to develop autonomous agricultural technology.
Howard Wu
The co-founder of Antobot who helped establish the firm's focus on robotics-based crop protection.
The details
The robots navigate through strawberry crops to deliver precise doses of UV-C light, a form of electromagnetic radiation that disrupts the replication mechanism of fungal cells. By damaging the DNA of these pathogens, the system prevents them from spreading throughout the crop without relying on chemical sprays. The company is transitioning its operational model to sell this equipment directly to farmers, allowing growers to manage the hardware independently rather than renting it as a service.
Timeline
2019: Antobot was founded by Ke Lu and Howard Wu.
2025: The company operated exclusively through a robots-as-a-service model.
2027: Antobot targets the deployment of 300 autonomous robots.
The Tech Race
Antobot is competing within the broader shift toward autonomous precision agriculture, where startups are racing to replace manual, chemical-intensive crop management with robotic alternatives. By moving to a sales-based model, the firm is attempting to overcome the scaling hurdles common in the robots-as-a-service sector.
Commercial strawberry growers in the UK, Spain, and other markets can expect to transition from leasing to purchasing Antobot hardware starting next year. This shift enables farms to integrate the robots directly into their own operational workflows without ongoing service dependencies.
The takeaway
Antobot is pivoting its business model to prioritize hardware ownership as it seeks capital for global expansion. Watch for the company's progress toward its 2027 deployment target as a benchmark for the commercial viability of UV-C pathogen control robots.
Further reading
For more on the latest trends in autonomous farm machinery, visit Robotics.
Source note: This article includes information reported by AgFunderNews.
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