Thorvald Autonomous Robot Achieves Record Results in US and UK
- gillmcshane
- Oct 30
- 2 min read
Saga Robotics has concluded its biggest operational season so far in the United States and the United Kingdom, utilising Thorvald robots across 20% of the UK tabletop strawberry market in 2025 and cementing plans to expand further next year.
Across both countries, the autonomous Thorvald platform for grapevine and strawberries tripled its operational distance compared with the year before; operating 150 robots at 97% uptime which accrued over 200,000 autonomous kilometres, reported AgTechNavigator.
In the UK, the Norwegian agritech company made marked progress with its pioneering three-way partnership with Bitwise Agronomy, a specialist in AI-powered crop intelligence, and Chambers Farms, a leading UK soft fruit producer, which was announced earlier this year.
This season the Thorvald system counted more than 3 million strawberry fruits and flowers each night in the UK during its twice-weekly UV-C treatments; capturing detailed footage to assess ripeness and enable insights, while mapping the data by row.
The autonomous robots, which are monitored around the clock, travelled in convoys and utilised enhanced object detection.
The strategic alliance with Bitwise and Chambers unites cutting-edge robotics with data-driven agronomy. It brings Thorvald, which is celebrated for automating tasks like light-based disease control, together with real-time insights from Bitwise’s AI systems.
Chambers offers extensive on-the-ground knowledge and ideal growing environments to test and refine this tech stack at a commercial scale.
UK Market Expansion Plans
Next season, Saga Robotics reportedly plans to attain 30% coverage of the UK tabletop strawberry market.
“Our technology is performing under pressure, season after season,” explained Saga Robotics CEO Sacha de La Nöe. “We’re positioning the company for long-term success.”
Overall this season, the company said its Thorvald robots assisted in eliminating 133 tonnes of fungicides, prevented 4,450 tonnes of CO2 emissions, and avoided workers from being exposed to chemicals across 85,200 hours.
In the US, Saga Robotics treated almost 1,300 acres of Californian grape vineyards by targeting powdery mildew with precise doses of UV-C light.
The firm also introduced a vineyard-specific, next-generation Thorvald model designed for steep terrain, as well as a real-time data service to detect and count grape clusters autonomously.
Saga Robotics remains focused on scaling its operations for large-scale commercial adoption, having raised US$11.2m in fresh capital this year (£8.5m) to increase its funding to more than US$44m (£33.5m).
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