One key to achieving these contrary goals lies in the digitalization of agriculture. At Fraunhofer IOSB, the German company is researching essential aspects of the corresponding technologies along the entire value chain or food chain (field, harvest, storage, production, logistics, trade, consumption). In the area of food production, our developments in robotics, sensors and data processing help agricultural businesses to redesign processes and business models. They enable the optimization of the use of pesticides and fertilizers and the determination of soil quality. Assistance systems and autonomous vehicles – on land, in the air and on water – increase the efficiency and resilience of workflows.
These solutions are complemented by a wide range of services, from feasibility studies and process development to practical validation and the construction of demonstrators.
Precision from a distance: Control a teleoperated 5-ton tractor in real time, a plug-and-play retrofit solution for the autonomous operation of mobile work machines creates added value for civil and security-relevant applications – indoor, outdoor & off-road.
At this year’s Agritechnica 2025 in Hannover, automation experts from Fraunhofer IOSB-AST will present the remote control of a nearly five-ton agricultural tractor, which visitors could navigate over a distance of over 200 kilometers. This opens the door to new applications in agriculture, mining, and even deployment in crisis areas.
