Humanoid robots are ‘next stage’ in farming

Humanoid robots could be the “next stage” in farming automation, a university professor has said.

A project at Harper Adams University in Shropshire is looking into how the robots could shape farming in the future.

Robotics specialist Prof Fernando Auat Cheein, who is at the forefront of the new technology, said the robot shared “similar capabilities” to humans and could be deployed to do the same work alongside them.

“A humanoid has the same degree of freedom, the same ability as the human body, so we can programme the robot not to solve one problem, but to solve many of them,” he said.

Cheein, who is professor of engineering at the university, explained the human-shaped robots could carry out existing tasks that people do, such as harvesting, planting or pruning.

The robots could also be adapted to be automated and to complete the work in a faster way.