China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in collaboration with seven other central agencies including the Emergency Management Ministry, the People's Bank of China, the Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration, has issued a circular launching the first batch of 2026 innovation task challenges in the industrial and information technology sectors. The initiative systematically deploys 24 specialized topics across six directions: future industries, equipment manufacturing, information technology, communications, artificial intelligence, and consumer goods.

Of particular relevance to the agricultural machinery sector, intelligent irrigation robots and agricultural intelligent sensing and precision control equipment have been included in the challenge list. Under the "Water-Saving Technology and Equipment" topic within the equipment manufacturing direction, the "Intelligent Irrigation Robot and Efficient Water-Saving Complete Equipment" task directly targets three major pain points in agricultural irrigation: low water use efficiency, insufficient automation, and poor irrigation uniformity. The technical challenges cover three levels.

First, the water supply system: developing an intelligent water-saving irrigation supply system comprising smart pumping stations, high-pressure pipeline networks, and field water intake posts, with a system flow rate of no less than 80 cubic meters per hour. Second, unmanned robots: developing unmanned irrigation robots that integrate Beidou navigation, automatic water connection, intelligent hose retraction and deployment, and truss-type sprinkler irrigation, with a straight-line navigation accuracy of ±2.5 centimeters, water intake interface automatic docking accuracy of ±1 centimeter, a sprinkler irrigation width of 30 meters, and an operating speed of 500 meters per hour. Third, core components: developing high-precision anti-clogging drippers and low-pressure sprinklers. The task requires achieving full-process unmanned operation from water intake to movement to sprinkler irrigation, with an annual production capacity of 500 complete sets of equipment.

Under the "Smart Product and Equipment" topic within the artificial intelligence direction, the "Agricultural Intelligent Sensing and Precision Control Equipment" task aims to build a comprehensive smart agriculture solution for staple grain crops. The accuracy of farmland environmental monitoring, crop growth diagnosis, and pest disease warning and identification shall not be less than 90%, while the deviation of intelligent water and fertilizer decision-making accuracy shall not exceed 5%. The final goal is to form an integrated "sensing-decision-execution" solution, covering a monitoring area of 10 million mu, and to establish a leading demonstration in agricultural demonstration bases in major grain-producing regions.

Notably, the assessment indicators for both tasks point to engineering implementation: one requires an annual production capacity of 500 sets, and the other requires coverage of 10 million mu. From the indicator settings, beyond research and development capabilities, mass production conditions and demonstration scenarios will be key factors for applicants to consider.