Saga Robotics, the company behind the autonomous Thorvald robot, has announced a three-way collaboration with AI crop insights specialist Bitwise Agronomy and leading UK soft fruit grower Chambers Farm.
The partnership aims to enhance commercial-scale data collection and yield forecasting for strawberry production, turning real-time fruit and flower counts into actionable intelligence for growers.
The collaboration builds on Thorvald’s established role in delivering UV-C treatment to approximately 20% of the UK’s tabletop strawberries. Now, the robot is being equipped with advanced data collection and processing capabilities.
READ MORE: Weeks remain to submit your innovations into the 2025 Robotics & Automation Awards!
As part of its twice-weekly UV-C treatments at Chambers Farm, Thorvald simultaneously captures high-resolution video footage of strawberry plants.
Onboard, artificial intelligence enables each robot to count more than 3 million fruits and flowers per night, assess ripeness on a scale from 0 (flower) to 7 (overripe), and map this data to specific field rows.
This information is then uploaded to Bitwise Agronomy’s platform, where it is integrated with weather data, in-field sensor readings, and Bitwise’s proprietary ripening models.
The result is accurate yield forecasts that support improved labour planning, harvesting schedules, and sales strategies.
Chambers Farm, known for its innovative approach to sustainable berry production, is serving as the test site for the integrated system. The farm has been an early adopter of both Thorvald and Bitwise technologies, making it an ideal environment for the partnership’s launch.
Bitwise Agronomy, an Australian company recognised globally for its machine learning-based yield forecasting tools, views this collaboration as a logical evolution.
This development marks a significant expansion of Thorvald’s capabilities. Once focused solely on UV-C treatment as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy, Thorvald is now emerging as a comprehensive, autonomous crop monitoring solution.
Saga Robotics plans to further enhance Thorvald’s data analytics features, with future updates to include expanded crop detection and the launch of a digital platform enabling users to interact with both the robot and the data it collects.
Innovative applications of technology in retail and e-commerce, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, automotive, transport & logistics, and more will be celebrated at the Robotics & Automation Awards on 29 October 2025 at De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Visit www.roboticsandautomationawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s robotics and automation sectors!
