| Company | Milrem Robotics |
| Country | United Arab Emirates / Estonia |
| Website | https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264401-pair-of-robot-foresters-could-plant-thousands-of-trees-a-day/ |
| Category | Nursery & Establishment › Remote sensing & mapping |
The autonomous forester concept encompasses robotic and semi-autonomous systems designed to carry out the full cycle of early plantation establishment — including site assessment, seedling placement, planting, watering, fertiliser application, and survival monitoring — with minimal human labour. Reforestation and afforestation are globally recognised as critical tools for carbon sequestration and biodiversity restoration, yet mechanical tree planting at scale remains labour-intensive, expensive, and highly seasonal, particularly in remote Australian landscapes. Autonomous forester platforms typically use a wheeled or tracked mobile base equipped with a multi-axis robotic arm or specialised end-effector that can pick seedlings from an onboard hopper, assess micro-site soil conditions using penetrometers or hyperspectral sensors, drill or auger a planting hole to the correct depth, place and firm the seedling, and apply a measured dose of water and slow-release fertiliser. Companies such as Mation (formerly Robotics Plus), Flash Forest, and DroneSeed have demonstrated UAV-based seed and seedling delivery for large-scale planting, while ground-based systems like the Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) developed through Australian Research Council-funded projects at the University of Sydney have been tested in eucalyptus plantation contexts. Post-planting nurturing functions include autonomous re-visitation to monitor survival rates using visual AI, targeted herbicide application to suppress competing vegetation around the seedling zone, and soil moisture sensing to trigger supplemental irrigation in dry periods. The integration of these functions into a single autonomous platform capable of operating across the range of Australian plantation site types — from irrigated softwood in Tasmania to dry-land hardwood in south-west Western Australia — remains an active research and development frontier.
A strong planting solution that increases output and reduces labour exposure, offering clear productivity and safety benefits.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Company | Milrem Robotics |
| Country | United Arab Emirates / Estonia |
| Type | Company |
| FWPA RD&E | 4.3 |
| Case Studies | https://inModelvatek.co.nz/from-tanks-to-robotic-tree-planters/ |