Floating Robotics
About
About Floating Robotics
Floating Robotics develops compact mobile robots for greenhouse crop care. Its system uses three-dimensional vision, edge computing and AI to locate plants and fruit while operating inside existing glasshouse and polytunnel layouts, supporting harvesting, de-leafing, crop lowering and plant analytics.
During harvesting, a human can supervise logistics while the robot identifies produce, cuts it at the junction and avoids contact that could bruise the crop. Autonomous night-time de-leafing extends productive hours. The Swiss company develops the platform from ETH Zurich research and has tested its machines through paid work with commercial growers.
Team
- Salman Faraji - Chief Executive Officer
- Adrien Kehlstadt - Commercial Expert - His international sales and channel-building experience is relevant to commercializing Floating Robotics' greenhouse automation with growers and partners.
- Andrés C. Rodríguez - Computer Vision Expert - His work on robust computer vision and uncertainty estimation directly underpins crop detection and perception for greenhouse harvesting and crop-care automation.
Timeline
Events
- 2024-08-05 - Deployment - Floating Robotics completes first paid Meier Gemüse pilot
The 2024 engagement was Floating Robotics' first paid pilot. The pilot returned the system to Meier Gemüse after the earlier prototype trial. The commercial engagement advanced harvesting and de-leafing automation toward a robot-as-a-service model.
Source - 2024-05-24 - Award - Floating Robotics joins 2024 MassChallenge Switzerland cohort
The cohort was announced on 24 May 2024. Floating Robotics was one of roughly 100 startups selected from the top 8% of applicants. The four-month programme provided mentoring, industry contacts, investor access and zero-equity support.
Source - 2024-03-01 - Partnership - Floating Robotics joins Google for Startups Cloud Program
Admission to the programme took place in March 2024. The scale-tier programme provided cloud support for an AI and robotics startup. The milestone added platform resources as Floating Robotics prepared to expand commercial greenhouse pilots.
Source - 2023-12-18 - Deployment - Floating Robotics demonstrates autonomous greenhouse operations at Beerstecher
The robot was undergoing testing at Beerstecher AG by 18 December 2023. The system used an integrated camera and onboard computer to recognise plants and direct its robotic arm. The pilot covered repetitive greenhouse tasks including harvesting, de-leafing and boxing vegetables.
Source - 2023-12-01 - Award - Innosuisse approves Floating Robotics Start-up Innovation Project
The Start-up Innovation Project milestone took place in December 2023. Floating Robotics AG joined the approved science-based start-up innovation projects. The follow-on support enabled a five-person team and preparation for a paid 2024 pilot.
Source - 2023-02-10 - Award - Gebert Rüf Stiftung awards Floating Robotics CHF 150,000 InnoBooster grant
Project GRS-073/22 was approved on 10 February 2023. The CHF 150,000 grant covered a programme running from March 2023 to July 2024. The work integrated the robot with industry-standard greenhouse machinery and prepared further commercial pilots.
Source - 2023-01-30 - Deployment - ETH reports Floating Robotics first Meier Gemüse greenhouse pilot
The first prototype operated at Meier Gemüse during the 2022 growing season. The robot harvested and de-leafed tomato plants while fitting existing greenhouse carts. The completed pilot preceded a planned second site trial at Beerstecher.
Source - 2023-01-01 - Partnership - maxon supports Floating Robotics tomato-boxing system
The Young Engineers Program support began in January 2023. The support was directed at development of the robot's tomato-boxing subsystem. The programme linked the greenhouse automation project with maxon's engineering-support ecosystem.
Source - 2022-11-01 - Award - Floating Robotics wins CHF 10,000 Venture Kick support
The first-stage win took place in November 2022. The Venture Kick award provided CHF 10,000 of support. The award followed the project's pivot toward automated harvesting and crop care in tomato greenhouses.
Source - 2021-03-01 - Award - Innosuisse backs Floating Robotics innovation project
The Innovation Project milestone took place in March 2021. The Innosuisse instrument provided a major development boost. The programme supported expansion of the greenhouse-robot effort beyond its proof-of-concept phase.
Source - 2020-12-01 - Award - Floating Robotics receives proof-of-concept grant for field-ready robot
The proof-of-concept grant arrived in December 2020. The support extended the project's work at ETH Zurich into 2021. Its objective was to turn the research platform into a field-ready robot.
Source - 2020-02-01 - Award - SNF Spark grant moves Floating Robotics into ETH Zurich robotics lab
The grant gave the project a base inside ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab. The Spark milestone took place in February 2020. The move established the research setting for subsequent greenhouse-robot development.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Helbling AG
Engineering Service Partner - Gebert Ruef Stiftung reports an established service-provider partnership with Helbling AG.
- ETH Zurich
Research Institution - Floating Robotics developed and tested its greenhouse robot through ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab.
Context
Comparable profiles
- Four Growers
comparable profile - Greenhouse Harvesting Robotics
- Tevel
stack adjacency - Soft Crop Handling
- Fieldwork Robotics
stack adjacency - Soft Crop Handling
- HarvestX
stack adjacency - Soft Crop Handling
Context tags
- Robotic fruit picking - Workflow - Robotic fruit picking is a documented company focus.
- Greenhouse harvesting robotics - Peer Group - Greenhouse harvesting robotics is a documented company focus.
- Soft crop handling - Capability - Soft crop handling is a documented company focus.