Root AI

Root AI built Virgo as a universal robotic harvester for controlled-environment agriculture. The system combined perception, motion planning and a soft three-finger gripper to locate ripe produce, reach through dense foliage and pick crops such as tomatoes without damaging them. Harvest observations also supported crop-health, yield and farm-operations analysis.

AppHarvest completed the acquisition on April 7, 2021 and renamed the business AppHarvest Technology, Inc. Its 2021 Form 10-K records $59.108 million of total consideration and says the acquired goodwill and definite-lived intangible assets were fully impaired by year-end. Root AI is therefore represented as a historical acquired company rather than a current independent robotics vendor.