On July 14, the Shanxi Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, launched a selection process for typical application scenarios of agricultural robots. The initiative focuses on three areas: planting, breeding, and primary processing of agricultural products. It aims to collect and recommend robot applications that are technologically advanced, mature, and offer clear results, broad prospects, and replicable potential, while also promoting their wider adoption.
This effort aligns with the previously released Shanxi Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2026–2030), signaling that the province is translating the concept of developing agricultural new quality productive forces into specific field-based practices. The question remains: how will these agricultural robots enter the fields, and what results can they achieve?
Turning 'Impossible' into 'Usable'
About 70% of Shanxi's arable land is in hilly and mountainous areas, characterized by scattered plots and steep slopes. Machinery designed for flat plains often struggles here, making field access a persistent challenge for agricultural mechanization in the province. Last November, the Shanxi Smart Agriculture Action Plan (2026–2030) proposed three major initiatives: enhancing public service capabilities for smart agriculture, expanding application in key areas, and demonstrating leadership. It promoted the use of BeiDou-based precision planting, intelligent agricultural machinery, AI-powered tree pruning robots, orchard picking robots, and intelligent inspection robots.
As a practical step, the selection process for typical agricultural robot application scenarios was launched. In the planting sector, the focus is on seedling cultivation, tillage, sowing, field management, and harvesting. In the breeding sector, it covers feeding, breeding, livestock product collection, waste recycling, and harmless treatment. In primary processing, it targets initial processing, storage, and transportation.
A remote-controlled, silver-gray machine can steadily climb a 20-degree slope without slipping or sliding. It simultaneously performs five tasks—fertilizing, mulching, laying drip irrigation tape, sowing, and covering soil—in a single pass. Last autumn, one such machine, nicknamed the "Earth Smart Ox" by local farmers, covered over 2,000 mu of land across five counties: Yanggao, Shouyang, Xiangyuan, Wuxiang, and Yonghe. It operated continuously for 19 days without a breakdown. Developed jointly by the Shanxi Agricultural University's Coarse Grain Cultivation Mechanization Research Team and Shanxi Eagle Robot Technology Co., Ltd., this machine not only integrates five processes into one but also automatically plans paths around irregular field boundaries, monitors curvature in real time on curves, and adjusts speed accordingly. It fills a gap in China's fully autonomous film-mulching seeding robots for hilly areas.
In Wanrong County, Yuncheng City, a 450,000-mu orchard stretches across loess slopes. A multi-arm picking robot, developed by the National Research Center of Intelligent Agricultural Equipment, is being tested here. Using visual recognition to locate apples, its robotic arms and bionic grippers work together to pick fruit, performing reliably even in strong light and complex conditions. The current harvesting rate is 800 apples per hour, equivalent to the output of 5 to 8 workers.
In the Jinchuang Valley of the Jinzhong National Agricultural High-tech Zone, Shanxi Nongxin Silicon Valley Technology Co., Ltd. is focusing on facility agriculture and livestock farming. Its tomato-picking robot features a lightweight arm (reduced by 30–50%), capable of identifying millimeter-sized fruit with a measured picking success rate of 94.4%. Its livestock inspection robot can operate 24/7 in sheep pens, monitoring body temperature, weight, identity, feeding status, and health, while also uploading environmental temperature, humidity, and gas data. The company is currently tackling robot harvesting for daylily and sunflowers.
Guided by planning, research institutions and enterprises are collaborating to develop localized technologies, moving beyond the lab into practical field applications.
From Full-Chain Mechanization to Cost Reduction and Efficiency Gains
The key question is not just "can it be used?" but "is it worth using?" The true measure of agricultural robots lies not in technical parameters, but in the cost per mu of land. From precise replacement of single tasks to system integration across the entire chain and innovative service models, the cost savings and efficiency gains from agricultural robots are calculated differently in each scenario.
At the Sanshi Vegetable Park in Zhangzi County, Changzhi City, a spraying robot moves steadily along the vegetable rows. Using multispectral sensing, it adjusts pesticide dosage in real time based on the crop type, growth stage, and pest control standards, ensuring even coverage of leaves, stems, and crevices. "One machine replaces six plant protection workers, and pesticide utilization has increased by 35%," said park manager Zhang Peihong.
In Guanzhuang Village, Hezhen Town, Gaoping City, a 3,000-mu smart farm presents a full-chain picture. A multispectral drone first accurately identifies pest-affected areas, then an unmanned crop sprayer applies treatment precisely based on the data. Solar-powered insect traps and smart monitoring equipment are on duty 24/7. Driverless tractors, BeiDou navigation, and 5G transmission connect to a "smart brain," integrating weather stations, soil moisture sensors, pest detection, and visual field monitoring. According to reports, the platform manages over 40 tractors and 60 IoT devices across 30,000 mu of land. The results: labor costs have dropped by over 25%, pesticide and fertilizer use has decreased by 10–15%, and per-mu yield has increased by about 8%. The combined effect of moving from "people watching the land" to "a system managing the land" is far greater than simply adding individual machines.
The livestock sector is also integrating robotic solutions. Unlike traditional farming, the challenge in animal husbandry is not about getting machines into the fields, but about 24/7, stress-free fine management. At the Duan Village Sheep Breeding Park in Fenxi County, Linfen City, an inspection robot navigates autonomously in a complex environment, collecting visible light and thermal imaging video to record sheep activity and pen temperature distribution. At the Helan Breeding Digital Pig Farm in Shanxi, the "Pasture Guardian" rail inspection robot runs along an overhead track in the pig barn. Using AI and machine vision, it estimates pig weight through non-contact measurement to avoid stress. It compares daily weight gain curves with standard growth curves to inform feeding decisions. Inspection tasks, once reliant on human experience and legwork, are now handled by machines for continuous monitoring, providing more consistent data and more timely judgments.
At Ruicheng Fenghai Fruit Industry Co., Ltd., which processes agricultural products, an intelligent dual-channel apple sorting system detects six key indicators—including color, blemishes, and sugar content—while weighing and classifying each fruit. Each apple gets a unique code for premium pricing. The dual-channel line processes 144,000 apples per hour, equivalent to 300 workers. The premium for high-quality apples has increased by over 20%, driving upgrades across 8,000 mu of orchards in five townships and boosting the annual income of over 4,000 fruit farmers by more than 7 million yuan. Intelligent grading ensures that investments in front-end planting yield higher returns.
From spraying robots to driverless field tractors, from sheep pen inspection robots to apple sorting lines, Shanxi's agricultural robot applications are moving from single-point trials to full-chain integration. Policy provides direction, technology breaks down barriers, and the ultimate impact is measured in the costs saved per mu, the extra fruit per tree, and the higher price per apple.
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