A recent visit to research institutes, production enterprises, and farmlands in Shanxi Province reveals the progress of agricultural robot development and application. The "Earth Smart Ox" fills a gap in domestic film mulching and seeding for hilly terrain, the daylily intelligent picking robot has entered field trials, and the tomato picking robot has demonstrated significant results in testing. A batch of "Shanxi-brand" agricultural robots is accelerating its journey from the laboratory to the fields.
In recent years, the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Government have prioritized agricultural machinery upgrades and mechanization as key measures to boost rural revitalization and ensure food security. They have introduced the "Shanxi Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2026–2030)", designating the integrated pilot project for agricultural machinery R&D, manufacturing, and promotion as a key task. This facilitates the implementation of top-level designs and simultaneously advances research breakthroughs and scenario-based applications. From seeding to harvesting, management to processing, and fields to facilities, Shanxi is allowing more "new farming tools" to take effect on the loess plateau through a synergistic approach to research and application.
Developing Agricultural Robots for Local Needs
On July 28, at the daylily planting base in Tuofang Village, Yunzhou District, Datong, Shanxi, the daylily intelligent picking robot completed a full workflow of intelligent identification, precise positioning, and non-destructive harvesting. Zhang Yanjun, Deputy Dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, noted, "This marks the first field operation of a daylily picking robot jointly developed by a university and enterprise in Shanxi, bringing us closer to solving a key pain point for the industry."
Shanxi is a major producer of daylilies, and the specialized harvesting period and high labor costs have created an urgent need for automated harvesting equipment. In 2023, the "Key Technology Research and Application Demonstration of the Daylily Intelligent Picking Robot" was approved as a key research project in Shanxi. After nearly three years of research by a team led by Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, the first-generation daylily picking robot was successfully developed. The field testing of this robot is a vivid example of Shanxi's efforts to develop specialized, locally adapted intelligent agricultural equipment.
About 70% of Shanxi's arable land consists of hilly and mountainous terrain, with scattered plots and widespread slopes, presenting a prominent dry farming situation where conventional machinery is difficult to adapt. As specialty industries like apples, daylilies, meat sheep, and tomatoes grow, labor shortages become increasingly evident. Shanxi is promoting collaborative research among universities, institutes, and tech enterprises, focusing on developing intelligent agricultural machinery for its specialty agricultural chains, creating a series of practical and effective agricultural robots tailored to the land.
The fully autonomous film mulching and seeding robot, the "Earth Smart Ox," is in operation. Photo by Bai Wenchen.
In November 2025, the "Shanxi Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2026–2030)" was released, outlining four major robot research tracks for coarse grains, facility vegetables and fruits, forestry and fruits, and livestock. It sets clear phased informatization goals and supports three major pillars: a big data foundation, unmanned farm pilot projects, and a provincial-level industrial technology system. The Shanxi Department of Science and Technology supports research on topics such as agricultural machine vision, lightweight mechanical structures, and autonomous navigation for mountainous terrain through special projects for modern agriculture and basic research plans. It encourages research institutes, universities, and enterprises to conduct R&D. The "Jinchuang Valley·Agricultural High-tech Zone" has established a collaborative innovation model of "university R&D + zone support + enterprise transformation," driving the transition of scientific achievements from the lab to the field.
Shanxi Agricultural University, in collaboration with Shanxi Aige Robot Technology Co., Ltd., developed the "Earth Smart Ox" autonomous film mulching and seeding robot for hilly areas. This robot integrates five processes: fertilization, film mulching, drip irrigation tape laying, seeding, and soil covering, and can operate stably on slopes of up to 20 degrees, filling a domestic gap for similar equipment. Based on the principle of "adapting machinery to the land," Shanxi's agricultural robot R&D is accelerating from concept to lab sample, and from sample to field equipment.
From film mulching and seeding in hilly terrains to precise harvesting in facility greenhouses, from intelligent fruit picking in loess orchards to real-time monitoring in livestock barns, a range of smart agricultural robots suited to Shanxi's unique agricultural conditions are being deployed. A livestock inspection robot is in operation. Photo by Hu Boping.
Shanxi Nongxin Silicon Valley Technology Co., Ltd., located in the "Jinchuang Valley·Agricultural High-tech Zone," has developed a tomato picking robot and a livestock inspection robot. The picking robot overcomes challenges in greenhouse operations by achieving a lightweight arm, reducing its weight by 30%–50%, making it suitable for narrow greenhouse rows. The livestock inspection robot is equipped with various scene-aware cameras and sensors, featuring AI recognition and automatic decision-making functions. It can run 24/7 in a sheep barn, monitoring temperature, weight, identity, feeding status, and health, while uploading environmental data like temperature, humidity, and gas levels, helping to ensure livestock health and reduce farming risks.
"Through multidisciplinary collaborative research, we have bridged the gap between technology development and agricultural deployment, holding over a dozen core patents," said Hu Boping, company head. The enterprise is also targeting the sunflower industry's weaknesses by developing a specialized harvesting robot. A representative from the Shanxi Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs stated that the province will continue to strengthen policy support, focusing on key scenarios like mechanization of hilly terrain, smart facility agriculture, and automated harvesting of specialty crops, to drive more agricultural robots out of the lab and into fields and workshops, offering a "Shanxi solution" for agricultural modernization and rural revitalization in hilly areas.
Expanding Robot Application and Deployment
R&D is important, but promotion and application are even more critical. In mid-summer, corn and coarse grains are thriving in Liangyu Village, Liaoyang Town, Zuoquan County. At the farming base of Fuyuan Agricultural Planting Co., Ltd., "new farmer" Zhang Shaojia operates a crop protection drone to spray pesticides. He noted that manual spraying for two people would cover just over ten acres a day, taking half a month for hundreds of acres; now, the drone completes the job in two days with better control results.
A crop protection drone spraying pesticides. Photo by Zhang Shaojia.
In recent years, Shanxi has implemented the "2024–2026 Agricultural Machinery Purchase and Application Subsidy Implementation Plan," increasing the adoption of new machinery and promoting the R&D and manufacturing of green, intelligent, compound-efficient machinery. It is driving the deep integration of digital technologies like big data, intelligent control, agricultural robots, and satellite remote sensing into agricultural machinery, with a focus on promoting smart, low-carbon equipment suited to the characteristics of the Loess Plateau’s farming and livestock systems. Provincial financial funds of over 23 million yuan are allocated annually to support more than 90 new machinery and technology promotion projects, fostering the establishment of 57 smart agricultural machinery social service centers to expand the coverage of machinery applications.
Research teams are proactively going to the grassroots to accelerate the deployment of smart agricultural machinery. Bai Wenchen, a researcher at the Sorghum Research Institute of Shanxi Agricultural University, led the development of the "Earth Smart Ox" intelligent film mulching and seeding robot for hilly areas. He and his team have conducted field demonstrations, technical lectures, and hands-on training across seven key agricultural counties, including Jinzhong and Changzhi, creating whole-village promotion models in places like Qinxian and Xiangyuan, with a cumulative demonstration area of over 2,000 acres. Bai Wenchen said the equipment can reduce labor costs by over 50% and is more than 15 times more efficient than manual labor.
Having experienced the benefits of smart equipment, more agricultural operators are actively embracing agricultural robots. The Sanshi Vegetable Park in Zhangzi County has 18 high-standard greenhouses and serves as a demonstration site for local facility agriculture and rural industrial revitalization. The operating company, Shanxi Taihang Codonopsis Modern Agricultural Service Co., Ltd., invested over 80,000 yuan to introduce two intelligent spraying robots for monitoring and pest control in the greenhouses. Company head Shen Lizhen remarked, "Intelligent robots have improved quality and reduced the burden of greenhouse management. We plan to build 15 more greenhouses next year and introduce more smart equipment."
At the Shanxi Holan Breeding Digital Intelligent Pig Farm, the imported "Field Guardian" track inspection robot provides data support for feeding. Ruicheng County Fenghai Fruit Co., Ltd. has introduced an intelligent dual-channel apple grading system that detects six key indicators, including color, defects, and sugar content, processing 144,000 apples per hour.
An intelligent spraying robot in a greenhouse at the Sanshi Vegetable Park in Zhangzi County. Photo by Shen Lizhen.
With pest control, field seeding, livestock inspection, and fruit and vegetable sorting developing in multiple areas, the application of agricultural robots in Shanxi is moving from scattered trials to full-chain, scaled deployment. According to statistics from the Shanxi Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, by the end of last year, the province had 35,544 corn harvesters (94% self-propelled), 3,467 agricultural aircraft, and rapidly increasing adoption of intelligent, large-scale machinery. The total area covered by agricultural aircraft operations reached 635.27 thousand hectares. The province's total agricultural machinery power is 19.53 million kilowatts, with a comprehensive mechanization rate for crop cultivation and harvesting of 77.8%, exceeding the national average. Recently, the Shanxi Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs jointly launched a selection process for typical agricultural robot application scenarios, targeting three major areas—planting, breeding, and primary processing of agricultural products—to gather mature, effective, and easily replicable demonstration scenarios and promote the broader deployment of various agricultural robots.