Niqo Robotics is a Bangalore (India) based start-up on a mission to build accessible and reliable robots for sustainable agriculture. Founded by Mr. Jaisimha Rao, Niqo Robotics aims to bring liberation to stakeholders across the farming ecosystem through an AI -powered robotics revolution. In 5 years of inception, Niqo Robotics has raised a total of $8 million in total funding including a seed round from Blume Venture and Series-A from FMC Ventures and Omnivore and a Series-A extension from Bidra Innovations.
With challenges like climate change, profitability decline, labour crunch and an ever-increasing population to feed, agriculture is in dire need of scaling output sustainably. A key input task in agriculture is seasonal spraying of agrochemicals like pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides. The success of farmers is heavily dependent on the use of these agrochemicals to safeguard crop health.
World over, agrochemicals are over applied. Traditional method of a human knapsack spraying in emerging economies and spraying using sprayer machines and drones in advanced economies are all guilty of dousing entire farmlands in chemicals when it is the plant that needs crop protection. Over application of chemicals is toxic, it pollutes soil, ground water, harms health of humans and farm microbes.
To solve for this Niqo Robotics has built Niqo RoboSpray™– an AI powered sustainable spray technology. Niqo RoboSpray™ uses custom AI camera with sensors to detect plants and an automated nozzle control system to precision deliver chemicals only to the plant foliage without exposing soil to chemicals. This kind of selective spraying reduces chemical usage by up to 60% saving farmers money in chemical input and spraying sustainable without compromising the farm eco-system.
Niqo RoboSpray™ is a farmer first solution that saves them money, time and makes it easier to carry out seasonal spraying. It helps keep the soil healthy and grow food safely and sustainably.
The company has launched 50 of Niqo RoboSpray™ unit in India making it the largest fleet of precision spot spray robot in Asia. Farmers can avail spray services using the Niqo App this season. Staying true to its mission, Niqo has made the technology highly accessible for farmers by letting them avail it as pay per acre spray service.
