Continental and Dutch-Belgian technology company Octiva are partnering to develop autonomous mobile robotic solutions for horticulture applications.
The agreement follows Continental’s announcement that it has started the volume production of autonomous mobile robots for intralogistics.
The new AMRs being developed with Octiva will become part of Continental’s second product line “Agriculture” in the market of autonomous mobile robots.
Octiva was formed from the merger of Priva’s robotic solutions and Octinion’s agricultural robotics and focuses on integrated horticulture robotics solutions.
Joining forces, the partners will develop an industry-leading, autonomous and reliable solution that will shape the future of horticulture.
Tom Coen, CEO of Octiva, says: “Adding Continental’s competence in safe and autonomous mobility to our market leading applications will allow us to offer our customers new features and thereby enable additional benefits for them.
“Moreover, it allows us to implement a focus driven strategy which will lead to a faster market entry.”
Pierre Pomper, head of autonomous mobile robots at Continental, says: “With this partnership we take the next step in our growth strategy for AMRs.
“Entering this new market will allow us to further enhance our AMR solutions that we offer to customers globally.
“We are open to continued cooperation with other strong partners to provide our autonomous platform to diverse markets besides intralogistics and horticulture.”
In the future, Octiva will focus on developing market-specific applications that allow to automate tedious and repetitive work in greenhouses such as cutting of leaves or monitoring the crops for which it is hard to find enough workers due to labor shortage.
By joining forces with Continental, Octiva accelerates the development and industrialization, creating the reference platform for greenhouse automation.
For Continental, the collaboration is the next step in the company’s growth strategy for autonomous mobile robots.
Meiny Prins, CEO of Priva, says: “Our partnership with Continental, a strong partner and industry leader, allows us to establish a strong product line with the clear objective to become the market leader for autonomous horticulture robot solutions.”
Continental will provide the motion platform that allows these applications to move autonomously and safe within greenhouses.
Andreas Mandl, project lead for Continental, says: “Octiva’s market expertise allows us to enter this substantial growth market and to develop the exactly right platform for this market.”
Market entry is planned in the year 2024.