XAG reported in June 2021 that its R150 unmanned ground vehicle had been demonstrated for apple pollination in Takayama, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The April trial used the vehicle’s JetSprayer to distribute a prepared pollen solution along rows of Sun Fuji apple trees.
According to the company, the robot followed a preset route while an operator could adjust spray angle and width through a mobile application. The demonstration addressed a task normally requiring workers to reach blossoms at different heights during a short pollination period. XAG also said the R150 was being made available for sale in Japan that June. The report is useful evidence of a tested application, but it did not present a controlled comparison of final fruit set, fruit quality or seasonal yield attributable to robot-assisted pollination.
