Jeff Melchior | 2026-09-10
https://www.producer.com/crops/u-s-agriculture-technology-companies-join-forces-for-driverless-precision-spraying-tool/
Two U.S. ag tech companies have combined specialties to bring driverless tractors and high-precision, artificial intelligence-based spraying to the market.
Ames, Iowa-based Sabanto Inc. and Verdant Robotics from Hayward, California, have merged the former’s autonomous tractor retrofit with the latter’s SharpShooter green-on-green weed management tool to create an “advanced solution” in both spaces.
The two systems communicate directly through CAN (controller area network) bus, a protocol that allows vehicles to “talk” to each other. The SharpShooter feeds the Sabanto-equipped tractor real-time field data while identifying individual plants and weeds, applying inputs only where the producer wants them.
“The decisions a skilled operator would make from the cab are now executed autonomously by the combined system,” reads a June 30 news release from Sabanto.
Craig Rupp, Sabanto founder and chief executive officer, added: “By pairing our best-in-class and proven retrofit autonomy system with Verdant’s groundbreaking SharpShooter technology, we’re giving producers and stakeholders yet another complete solution that works on their existing equipment.”
This level of autonomy can also alleviate the farm labour shortage many growers have been experiencing, says Curtis Garner, Verdant chief commercial officer and co-founder.
“Growers are facing labour scarcity and rising costs on the labour side and also the input (side).
“They also have very tight operational windows where they need to get into the field and get it weeded.”
Super-optimized spraying
The SharpShooter works through deep machine learning, using cameras and sensors to identify and spray weed species while excluding the crop from the chemical application. As of this writing, it can identify weeds in 100 crops and apply a broad spectrum of crop protection products.
Its spray volume is based on the product’s minimum effective rate, saving producers untold dollars in wasted chemicals, says Garner.
“I think our application rates typically range from half-a-gallon per acre to one-and-a half gallons per acre, so it’s a very minuscule amount of fluid. Basically, it’s one-twentieth of what a farm would normally apply.”
Using the bus connection, the SharpShooter can “tell” the Sabanto retrofit to speed up, slow down, raise or lower the hitch and adjust the weeds “shot” per second.
It can also run all night by itself.
“Our machine has lights that illuminate the scene so you can go 24/7.”
Sabanto’s autonomy system includes advanced cameras, obstacle detection sensors, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), a GPS correction system and robotics that pair with mobile and desktop applications, says Sabanto commercial lead Mike Burdick.
The system is currently compatible with the Kubota M5 series plus John Deere’s 6E, 5E, 6R and 5M series tractors.
Conceptually, Sabanto can fit the autonomy system on virtually any tractor, he says. However, every tractor requires the development of a specific adaptor kit, making universal conversion infeasible if not impossible. That’s why Sabanto bases its production decisions for these kits on market demand.
“Every tractor is a little bit different, not only mechanically and electrically but just the pure measurements from tractor to tractor are different,” says Burdick.
“Components need to be measured and brackets need to be built specifically for that make and model.”
The retrofit keeps a tractor on track through satellite-based corrections based on producer-programmed boundaries, Burdick says. These let the tractor know “where it is in the world.” Avoiding a wet spot in a field, for example, is a matter of adjusting boundaries that can be toggled on and off at the operator’s will.
Available in Canada
The system is not available as a package. The autonomy unit can be purchased at Sabanto dealerships across the United States (there are no Sabanto dealerships in Canada), and the SharpShooter can be bought at authorized dealerships, of which there is only one in the country: Haggerty AgRobotics in the unincorporated community of Bothwell in southwestern Ontario.
Burdick doesn’t see this as an insurmountable challenge.
“A Canadian grower could simply call myself … and we’d ship one out and send a couple of our techs out to install it.”
Once the two components “meet,” integration is a short, simple process, says Garner, who hints at dealer expansion in Canada.
“Our machines can talk to each other, so the integration is like 20 minutes. It’s not that big of a deal to put the adapter cable on, connect the two machines together, test it and then let it go.”