Agricultural robotics can support farmers in tasks increasingly affected by labour shortages, environmental pressures and changing climate conditions. Testing new solutions under real agricultural conditions is an important step in understanding how they can support farming in practice.
Within the Agri-Digital Growth project, the University of Maribor (UM) explored different applications through its Living Lab on agro-robotics for precision and smart agriculture. Activities combined autonomous robotics with sustainable crop protection, renewable energy and precision irrigation, involving researchers, engineers, students and agricultural stakeholders.
One of the solutions tested in the Living Lab was an autonomous robotic platform for photonic pest management. A Clearpath Husky unmanned ground vehicle was equipped with UV-C illumination modules designed to treat vineyard canopies without chemical products. Adjustable structures were developed to adapt the system to different crop geometries and vineyard row configurations.
Field demonstrations tested autonomous navigation and UV-C treatment as well as the ability of the system to provide adequate illumination across the canopy. Finding the right treatment conditions was one of the main technical challenges. UV-C dosage needs to be sufficient to suppress pathogens without causing damage to the crop, while canopy density, leaf orientation and shaded areas can affect how uniformly the radiation reaches the plants.
Robotics was only one part of the work carried out in Slovenia. A second pilot activity explored how vineyard infrastructure can combine energy production and water management. The Living Lab developed and tested a modular agrivoltaic prototype with flexible photovoltaic panels, hollow pillars for water storage and a micro-drip irrigation system.
The prototype combined solar energy harvesting with rainwater collection, local water storage and precision irrigation. Controlled shading also offered the possibility of regulating the vineyard microclimate and reducing heat stress, an increasingly relevant issue under changing climatic conditions. Testing highlighted practical engineering challenges as well, including the integration of flexible photovoltaic panels into curved structures and the need to ensure the durability and water-tightness of the storage system.
Education and experimentation were closely connected throughout the Living Lab. Through the FarmBeast initiative, students and young researchers worked directly on autonomous agricultural robots, gaining practical experience in robotics integration, sensing, navigation, embedded electronics and agricultural automation.
The FarmBeast team also took part in the 22nd international Field Robot Event near Milan. The competition involved 16 teams and around 150 participants from 10 European countries, with tasks covering autonomous navigation, plant detection, fruit counting and bioluminescent object detection. For the freestyle task, the University of Maribor team presented an AI-assisted robotic system for asparagus harvesting.
The team achieved second place in plant detection, bioluminescent fungi detection and the freestyle innovation task and finished third in the overall competition.
The experience developed in the Living Lab also provides a basis for further work. Future developments identified by the University of Maribor include sensor-based disease detection, adaptive UV-C dosage, automated irrigation optimisation and more advanced autonomous navigation. Longer-term field testing will be needed to assess aspects such as energy consumption, water savings, disease suppression, economic feasibility and scalability.
Across the five Agri-Digital Growth Living Labs, practical experimentation has been used to connect technological development with skills and knowledge transfer. The University of Maribor experience shows how a Living Lab can test new solutions under agricultural conditions while giving students and young professionals direct experience with technologies that are changing agricultural work.