{"id":615,"date":"2026-03-20T15:12:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T06:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/vietnam-agri\/vietnam-agriculture-robot\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T00:36:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:36:38","slug":"vietnam-agriculture-robot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-agri.com\/en\/vietnam-agri\/vietnam-agriculture-robot\/","title":{"rendered":"The front line of Vietnamese agricultural-robot development 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Vietnam's farms, a serious labor shortages<\/a> is worsening. The outflow of young people to the cities is accelerating, and the reality is that farms unable to secure labor at harvest time are rapidly increasing.<\/p>\n

To solve this challenge, universities and startups in Vietnam have begun to get serious about robot development. This article explains the latest research and prototype trends in Vietnamese agricultural robots.<\/p>\n

Why robot farming is drawing attention in Vietnam now<\/h2>\n

Agricultural workers make up about 35% of Vietnam's total workforce. Yet young people continue to leave farming, and the rural workforce is even projected to shrink by about 20% by 2030.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, agricultural export value keeps growing. Vietnam's 2025 agriculture, forestry, Seafood exports<\/a> export value reached about US$65 billion, cementing its position as a world-class agricultural exporter.<\/p>\n

The dilemma of 'wanting to maintain or expand output but not having enough hands' has become a major driver pushing investment in robot farming.<\/p>\n

The front line of university-born robot research<\/h2>\n

Several national universities in Vietnam are pursuing research on agricultural robots. Here are the most noteworthy developments.<\/p>\n

The efforts of Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST)<\/h3>\n

The mechanical-engineering department of Hanoi University of Science and Technology has a top-class domestic record in research on fruit-harvesting robots. The mango-harvesting robot it unveiled in 2024 can judge ripeness with an AI camera and selectively harvest only ripe fruit.<\/p>\n

Its harvesting accuracy is about 87%. Compared with harvesting by hand there is still room for improvement, but its ability to operate around the clock is highly rated by farmers.<\/p>\n

Research at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT)<\/h3>\n

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology is developing an autonomous robot for dragon-fruit farms. Because the dragon-fruit farms common in the south have vast areas, it is a region with an especially high need to automate patrol and harvesting work.<\/p>\n

As of 2025, the university's team has conducted field tests of a robot that autonomously travels farm roads while scanning with ripeness sensors. Research to improve the accuracy of harvest decisions continues.<\/p>\n

Rice-tech research at Can Tho University<\/h3>\n

Can Tho University, in Can Tho, the central city of the Mekong Delta, researches smart farming machinery for paddy rice. GPS-guided automatic rice transplanters and drone-linked growth-monitoring systems are the pillars of its research.<\/p>\n

Especially notable is its post-harvest quality-sorting system. Using a proprietary image-analysis algorithm, it has completed a prototype that can sort rice grains by quality at a throughput of about 500 kg per hour.<\/p>\n

A wave of commercialization led by startups<\/h2>\n

What is bringing university research closer to practical use is Vietnam's domestic agritech startups.<\/p>\n

A comparison of the main startups<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Company name<\/th>\nSites<\/th>\nMain product<\/th>\nTarget crops<\/th>\nFinancing<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
AgriBot Vietnam<\/td>\nHanoi<\/td>\nHarvesting robot<\/td>\nTomatoes and peppers<\/td>\nAbout US$2 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MekongTech<\/td>\nCan Tho<\/td>\nSorting and packaging line<\/td>\nRice and fruit in general<\/td>\nAbout US$1.5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GreenRobotics<\/td>\nHo Chi Minh City<\/td>\nPesticide-spraying drone<\/td>\nPaddy rice and vegetables<\/td>\nAbout US$5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
VietAI Farm<\/td>\nDa Nang<\/td>\nAI-camera sorting machine<\/td>\nCoffee and pepper<\/td>\nAbout US$800,000<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The one drawing particular attention here is GreenRobotics. Cumulative sales of its pesticide-spraying drones exceeded 1,200 units as of the end of 2025, running at the top of the domestic market share in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

AgriBot Vietnam's harvesting robot<\/h3>\n

The tomato-harvesting robot developed by AgriBot Vietnam features a design that combines a six-axis arm with a suction gripper. A soft gripper using soft-robotics technology lets it harvest fruit without bruising.<\/p>\n

Each unit harvests at about 800 pieces per hour. It is slower than a skilled worker, but its ability to run continuously with zero fatigue is its competitive edge.<\/p>\n

Details of the harvesting-robot prototype<\/h2>\n

The harvesting robots being developed in Vietnam share a common architecture.<\/p>\n

The configuration of the main components<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Component<\/th>\nRole<\/th>\nTechnology used<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Vision sensor<\/td>\nDetecting crop position and ripeness<\/td>\nRGB-D camera plus deep learning<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Manipulator<\/td>\nHarvesting motion<\/td>\nMulti-axis robot arm<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
End effector<\/td>\nGrasping<\/td>\nSoft gripper<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Travel system<\/td>\nMoving across farmland<\/td>\nAutonomous crawler<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control system<\/td>\nIntegrated control<\/td>\nROS2-based<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Investment is concentrated on the vision-sensor part in particular. Because Vietnam's farming environment has harsh conditions such as strong tropical sunlight, rain, and mud, developing sensors with high environmental resistance is an important technical challenge.<\/p>\n

The latest trends in sorting robots<\/h2>\n

Post-harvest sorting and grading work is also being robotized rapidly.<\/p>\n

The evolution of color and size sorters<\/h3>\n

Conventional optical sorters were limited to simple color and size judgments, but next-generation sorters incorporating AI image recognition have appeared in recent years.<\/p>\n

The coffee-bean sorter developed by VietAI Farm reaches 99.2% accuracy in detecting defective beans. It cuts the false-detection rate by about 60% compared with conventional models, achieving both higher quality and improved yield.<\/p>\n

Integration into the packaging line<\/h3>\n

MekongTech is developing a line system that automates everything from sorting to packaging in one flow. By introducing AI cameras even into the final inspection step that used to require human hands, it pursues labor savings across the whole process.<\/p>\n

At an export-oriented pineapple processing plant that introduced the company's system, line staff were cut from 18 to 6. A case has been reported of successfully lowering production costs by about 25%.<\/p>\n

Potential for partnership with Japanese companies<\/h2>\n

Vietnam's agricultural robotics field is a market worth watching for Japanese companies, too.<\/p>\n

There are many areas where Japan's strengths apply directly, such as precision parts for robotic arms, high-quality sensors, and control software. Several Japanese farm-machinery makers have already begun joint research with Vietnamese universities, and field trials are expected to get into full swing from 2026 onward.<\/p>\n

For importers of Vietnamese farm produce as well, the stabilization of quality and improved traceability that robots bring are direct benefits. As production regions become more automated, quality consistency improves, strengthening export competitiveness in the Japanese market.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/h2>\n

Vietnam's agricultural robot development is evolving rapidly through collaboration between university research and startups.<\/p>\n