Since the end of World War II, the trend in agriculture has been about "bigger." This has meant bigger plots of land, bigger machines, and bigger yields leading to economies of scale and efficiency. However, as the drawbacks of mechanized agriculture have become more apparent, and as the environmental benefit of growing food locally becomes more important, there is a new generation of small scale famers emerging. These farmers often grow multiple varieties of produce to diversify their offerings. The goal of this project sponsored by the agricultural machine company, Yanmar, was to create a new product/service for this new generation of farmers.

In order to differentiate themselves from large scale farming, small-scale multi-variety farmers focus on fresh produce that is higher value but also more labor intensive. Managing the farm can be a complicated task as every produce has different processes. Furthermore, monitoring the crop health is paramount as produce can be spoiled easily by pests.

Kansroo is an autonomous mobile field robot that monitors and analyses crop health and farming conditions. Through the cloud, farmers are provided a panoramic view of their crops as well as relevant, easy-to-understand data on the status of their farm. The application also allows farmers to compare data from the past and previous yields so they can make adjustments to their farming activities. With the built-in scheduler, farmers can use the status of their farm to plan their day's workload, streamlining their operations.

With Kansroo, small-scale famers can improve the efficiency of their work and farm without having to grow their farm or utilize industrial machines.