Kuhn will premiere an autonomous solution for arable farms at Agritechnica in November. Called Karl, the robot runs on rubber tracks.

The company has spent around €400m on R&D during the past 10 years, a fifth of which is earmarked for developing new machines and technologies for the future. One of them, the Aura livestock feeding robot, is described as the most ambitious and expensive Kuhn R&D project so far.

“It was a massive undertaking for us,” comments Kuhn CEO Thierry Krier. “Now we have another gigantic project and are working on an autonomous solution for arable farms. We are investing massively to ensure we have the right concept.”

Speaking at an international press conference at Saverne in France, Mr Krier confirms that the project began 6-7 years ago and four generations of prototypes have been evaluated.

“The current version is finished,” he adds. He stressed that Karl is not a tractor. “We are an implement manufacturer and Karl was born from tools. It is the final part of a solution we believe is right for the European market.”

Described as not just a robot but a machine that can do much more, other than the name there is no other information and no photographs. All the Kuhn top man was prepared to add is that combining operations is the future and that we need lighter machines. “However, you will not see it until the show,” he adds.

Caption: Work on the Aura project started in 2015. Launched in France in 2021, it will be in full production from next year and at the EuroTier livestock machinery show (November 2024). Still only available in France, the first export markets have yet to be decided. An electrically-powered in development is expected to be ready sometime 2025.

Karl is expected to be included in the price lists in the not-too-distant future. Kuhn celebrates its 200th anniversary in 2028. We reckon there is a good chance it will be available then, possibly earlier.

“Some farmers are ready for such a machine and many tell us that labour is a major problem,” concludes Mr Krier. “The number of robots is increasing everywhere. We have 200 of them in our facilities. They are coming. We have to make Karl easy to control and move between fields and it has to be self-diagnostic.”

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