Arboreal robots R&D
This is our research on robots that move through trees — a different architecture from bipedal humanoids. We design and test prototypes in the lab. None of them is a working farm robot.
Gibbon Bot is the named platform: bio-inspired by the gibbon, the smallest of the apes. In development since May 2025. It does not work yet. The goal, if we can make it work, is canopy jobs — maintenance, picking, pruning, inspection, hail nets, monitoring — without compacting the soil. Olivabot Vision is a feasibility study on cameras and on-board AI for the same platform, later.
What we are researching
- Canopy locomotion – grip and motion through branches, not walking on the ground
- Lightweight mechanics – so the soil is not compacted and the tree is not damaged
- Laboratory prototypes – hardware and software; grove tests so far have not produced a working climber
- Intended jobs – maintenance, harvest, hail nets, and monitoring, if the machine can climb