Crover

Crover offers automated robotic solutions to monitor and record information on harvested grains such as wheat and barley. The company’s robotic device can “swim” into a bulk of granular grains, monitor their condition, and provide information on spoilage and drops in quality to farmers or grain storekeepers. The robotic systems can be operated remotely to reach every corner of the bulk of grains and also comes equipped with temperature and moisture sensors to provide real-time information to avoid crop loss.

Crover’s robot is offered through a hardware-as-a-service business model, priced at GBP 3,000 (USD 4,000) per robot per year for both the hardware and software. According to the company, farmers require one robot per silo. In 2020, the company reported that it piloted its robot in Scotland and England and claimed that it has also received interest from companies in Italy and Spain.

In July 2021, UK-based Crover raised GBP 321,833 (approx. USD 448,000) via a crowdfunding campaign on the Crowdcube platform. The campaign was launched at the end of June with a target of GBP 150,000. The funds are expected to be used to scale production and run pilot projects in the UK, and Europe, and, potentially in the US by 2022. The company also expects to further develop its precision technology for crop analysis and automated sampling features.