Agricultural Transformation with HiveGround’s Robotics Solutions
Industry: Agriculture
Product / Service: Robotics Solutions, “TIGERDRONE”, the company’s flagship, is crop protection drone
Robotic Technologies in Thai Agriculture
As the popularity of AI and robotic technologies spread across the globe, the one overlooked is rather apparent: Thailand possesses one of the new treasures in its land of smiles, a promising technology for agricultural engineering . With the current 71 million population together with an expectation to invest $57 billion into different aspects of forming a sustainable economy, Thailand will strive for its own benchmark through deep technology as a core development by 2030.
According to Jungle Ventures, Southeast Asia’s startups in the technological field had an overall value of $340 billion in 2020, with an anticipation to triple by 2025. Not surprisingly, one of the countries is Thailand which is known for its tourist attractions and agricultural sector. Despite the images as land of smiles, the nation has long honed its technological capability through robotics forces and science for a better future. The country developed a fast growth rate for the technological sector over the past decade. However, one that seemed to stand out among the others was the agricultural tech industry.
Thus, through these numbers, the focus of Thai technology is not far from its own agricultural roots, considering that farmers have always been the main providers on this land. This fact led the country’s technological development toward farming and agricultural related robots.
Although the country held its pride as agricultural land, the truth is rather harsh for most farmers. From a report by the United Nation in 2021, the agricultural industry accounted for 30 percent of Thailand’s labor, which is more than 6.4 million households. Despite that prominent numbers, farmers remained as the lowest value per workers together with being the least growth sector in the overall economy for decades.
As such, technology is considered as one of the productive tools to improve the condition of Thailand’s farming sector with the rise of agricultural tech and business trying to find a solution to this overhaul issue.
Incorporating Drone to the Tradition Way of Working
Among the various rising robotic startups, “HiveGround” took the industry by storm with the innovative agricultural mechanism that reshaped the farming industry for Thailand. In 2016, various teams across the countries were funded by a 500-million-baht government sponsorship as a new Thai tech startup. HiveGround obtained a fund of 10 million baht for its proposed project.
One of the main focuses of the newly founded tech start-up was the technology of manless drones to assist human’s activity. A later important piece that recovered the Thai agricultural sector. Thus, after each passing projects in different fields, a new project was proposed by HiveGround to create a robot for the farming industry, naming the project “TIGERDRONE”
According to a report conducted by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), the market for agricultural drones is observed to grow at 200% rate per year from 2020-2022, with 2023’s demand increasing together with the market value estimated at 3 billion baht this year.
Beyond agriculture, HiveGround’s expertise extends to system integration and custom project-based solutions. The startup focused its ideas on solving problems to problems while designing the best systematic solution for farmers through their robotic products, hoping to create the robotic-driven solution. The process of this modern farming method led to the automation of farming, in contrast with the shirking field labor.
As Thailand’s common problem was the lack of labor in the farming field together with natural disasters that occur annually during certain periods, manless drones help the farmers to safely plant and fertilize crops in a less expensive way with a highly sustainable model.
The highly advanced robot was only part of the plan for the company to expand its product to the overall agricultural tech market not only in Thailand but in the international sector as well.
Although the promise of TIGERDRONE seems intriguing, the agricultural tech in Thailand only just started to bloom. Many farmers stick to their traditional ways without considering the help of technology, yet at the same time, a certain number start to open up to combine the tradition with drones-integrating technology to their farming life.
A Promise to the Future
In the end, HiveGround or other deep tech startups are part of the bigger picture of deeper commitment toward the locals issue. The emergence of an aging society and labor shortage will soon become the inevitable arrival but, with the robotics entity, the agricultural sector can remain in its prominent form without suffering much. However, this moment is just the beginning of Thailand’s change. Further drone and robotic development will continue to thrive together with various Thais local startups. Combining tradition with technology, the process of Thailand’s new future is to be continued with the hands of startups.
In conclusion, with HiveGround’s strong commitment to research, education, and entrepreneurship, it serves as a vital bridge connecting academia, industry, and the broader community. As an integral part of Chulalongkorn University’s mission to drive positive change, HiveGround is poised to become a thriving ecosystem where ideas are nurtured, and transformative solutions emerge. It is not merely a physical space, but a catalyst for the limitless potential that lies at the intersection of knowledge and entrepreneurship.