€6.5M Horizon Europe AGROBOOST project to accelerate Agricultural Robotics and AI for safer, inclusive and sustainable farming

A new Horizon Europe project will leverage advanced robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Augmented Reality (AR) to modernize agriculture, combat labor shortages and prioritise worker safety. 

Led by Dr Dimitrios Argyropoulos, UCD School of Biosystems and Food Engineering, (opens in a new window)AGROBOOST (Agricultural Ground-bReaking sOlutions based on roBotics and augmented reality for boOsting sOcial sustainability and competitivenesS while increasing the safeTy of workers) will unite 18 partners across Europe.

The multidisciplinary, five-year project commands a total budget of €6.5 million, supported by €5 million in EU funding alongside Swiss contributions.

Dr Argyropoulos said, “AGROBOOST embraces a methodology rooted in scientific excellence, social inclusivity, and measurable impact, prioritizing the safety and appeal of agricultural work by harnessing robotics, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, automation and digitalization while simultaneously aiming for significant reductions in workplace accidents, environmental footprint, and production costs.”

The official launch held at UCD and featured a keynote address and brief talks by distinguished speakers addressing the project's critical role in the future of European farming.

Petros Kokkalis, a climate policy leader and former Member of the European Parliament, emphasized the project’s dual focus on environmental and social objectives, noted its alignment with the European Green Deal, “AGROBOOST is, at its core, about leveraging advanced technologies to address this double challenge: environmental sustainability and social inclusivity. But let me underline one thing from the start: the goal is not to replace farmers. The goal is to empower them.”

Mr. Kokkalis, co-founder of Climatica, in his keynote address stressed the necessity of making farming careers more attractive and inclusive: "If we want this transformation to succeed politically and socially, we must at the same time make farm work safer, smarter, more rewarding and more attractive – especially for women, young people and workers with disabilities, who are still under-represented and often excluded."

Other notable speakers at the launch included Mark Sweeney, National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe environment activities at Enterprise Ireland, and Dr Kate Johnston, UCD’s Head of Strategic Research Partnerships.

(opens in a new window)AGROBOOST directly addresses highly challenging agricultural tasks through six diverse pilot validation campaigns across six countries:

• Mushroom selective harvesting (Ireland) using fully autonomous, vision-guided robots.
• Intelligent Autonomous Robotic System for Harvesting of Strawberries Crops (UK) utilizing a gamified Virtual Reality (VR) environment for training and telepresence.
• Orchard tree pruning and flower thinning (Portugal) leveraging AI-based robotic systems.
• Mechanical Autonomous Selective Weeding (Greece) in organic vegetable farming.
• Autonomous Management of Poultry Production, Health and Welfare (Belgium) using combined fixed and mobile robotic platforms.
• Automated Work on the Ground in Steep Vineyards (Switzerland) exploring lightweight, morphing compliant robots to reduce human intervention in challenging terrain.

A core component of the project is the deployment of €480,000 in financial support to third parties (FSTP) through two Open Calls to integrate external innovation, fostering a wider ecosystem of stakeholders including SMEs, startups, and research groups. These two rounds aim to fund a total of eight projects, providing up to €60,000 for each recipient over a six-month implementation period.

AGROBOOST aims for substantial improvements, including achieving a target reduction of  30% in workplace accidents and demonstrating a 35% increase in the inclusivity of developed technologies across vulnerable demographic groups. 

For more details on the project visit (opens in a new window)https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101182954 and (opens in a new window)https://agro-boost.eu/.