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Deep diveROBOTICS

Micro Precision Agriculture Robot Swarm NanoFarm Deep Dive: Personalized Care for Every Single Plant

NanoFarm micro robot swarms developed by Swiss startup Ecorobotix achieve personalized care for each individual crop in greenhouse environments — precision management at the single-plant level from fertilizer dosage to irrigation timing.

Micro Precision Agriculture Robot Swarm NanoFarm Deep Dive: Personalized Care for Every Single Plant

Traditional agriculture manages at the "field" level — the same fertilizer and water applied to an entire plot. The NanoFarm micro robot swarm developed by Swiss startup Ecorobotix is pushing management precision down to the "single-plant" level.

NanoFarm's swarm consists of 50 to 200 micro ground robots, each weighing just 1.2 kilograms and roughly the size of a paperback book. Each robot is equipped with a micro multispectral camera and soil sensor, enabling it to autonomously cruise through fields, inspect the health of each crop individually, and apply precise doses of water, fertilizer, and crop protection chemicals based on individual needs.

"Two adjacent tomato plants in the same field may need completely different management plans due to differences in soil microenvironment," said Ecorobotix CEO Aurelien Demaurex. "NanoFarm makes 'one plan per plant' possible for the first time."

In a 2-hectare greenhouse trial in Switzerland, NanoFarm-managed tomato fields used 38% less water and 45% less fertilizer compared to traditional management, while yields increased by 12%. Full lifecycle data for each crop from sowing to harvest is recorded, creating a complete "crop profile."

NanoFarm's core technical breakthrough lies in the micro robots' visual recognition system — capable of identifying crop species, growth stages, and pest and disease symptoms at 30 frames per second under natural lighting conditions, with a recognition accuracy of 97.3%.

However, NanoFarm currently only works in greenhouses and for high-value cash crops. For field crops such as corn and wheat, the coverage efficiency of micro robots remains insufficient. Ecorobotix is developing a faster second-generation robot, aiming to reduce per-area inspection time to one-fifth of the current level.

The complete NanoFarm system (50 robots + base station + cloud platform) costs 3,000 euros per hectare per year in rental fees.