His name is Adam. He doesn’t always have a puppy on top, but he always wants to help the older farmers
This country has the oldest population in the world. A robot is lending a helping hand
by Jacopo Prisco e Evan JohnCNN
Japan’s population is the oldest in the world, with a third over 65 and one in 10 over 80, due to a combination of low fertility rates and high life expectancy.
This situation has a direct effect on the working-age population – the percentage of people aged between 15 and 64 – which is expected to decrease by 30 million people between 2020 and 2070.
Agriculture is particularly affected by this problem: according to Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the number of people employed mainly in agriculture has halved between 2000 and 2023, and people under the age of 60 only account for about 20% of the total.
To combat this shortage, along with a more relaxed stance on immigration and fertility policies, the country is increasingly looking to robotics to supplement the workforce.
Tamir Blum founded Kisui Tech while still a student in 2021 – a company that is using space exploration technology to build an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted agricultural robot. “Over the last 20 years, around 50% of farmers have retired, which means there are more and more burdens on a smaller and smaller number of farmers to continue producing a stable food supply,” says Tamir Blum.
The semi-autonomous robot is called Adam and is capable of transporting harvested produce over difficult terrain, as well as mowing grass and spraying fields with pesticides. Blum, an Israeli-American who first visited Japan in 2015, returned to the country in 2018 for a PhD during which he investigated lunar rovers and their ability to navigate rough and uneven terrain.
“During this doctoral program, I traveled a lot in the interior of Japan. You can understand the difficulties that the country is having with the lack of labor. We see a lot of abandoned houses… Farmers are clearly getting older… I realized how difficult it was and also the great potential for application of this type of off-road robotic technology, especially for outdoor orchards, which also they are very, very bumpy – similar to what I was researching for space robotics.”
The largest Adam is 70 centimeters high and 188 centimeters long and is mainly aimed at apple and pear growers, with a large truck for transporting products or fertilizers. The smaller Adam, about a third the size, is intended for grape and persimmon farmers, which are planted in narrower rows. Along with the robots, Kisui is also developing an online platform called Newton, which gives farmers real-time information about crops, diseases and farm management. Adam is expected to retail for around 19,600 euros in international markets.
Kisui Technology
“I was really surprised by the farmers’ reaction,” says Blum, “because in Japan I think most people have the stereotype that farmers are very traditional: they don’t like technology, they’re not willing to try new things.” . “However, they have been very welcoming, very willing to give advice, very willing to try Adam.”
Adam is approaching commercial launch and has been radically transformed from early versions based on feedback from farmers. For example, a touch screen was replaced with a panel with physical buttons because farmers often wear gloves – which don’t work well with touch screens.
Kisui recently completed its first paid proof of concept to automate patrol and data collection at a solar plant for a Japanese energy company. Blum says he has also received orders from the construction industry, which plans to use the robot for patrols, security and transporting heavy goods.
“We see Adam as a tool, not just for agriculture, but basically for all outdoor work,” Blum points out.
