In a world where climate change threatens food supplies and plant-based diets are on the rise, Australian scientists have developed a groundbreaking robot that could transform how we grow the crops we rely on most — from wheat and barley to legumes and grains.
Called RootBot, the new robot doesn’t harvest, spray, or sow. Instead, it reveals what no farmer can easily see: what’s happening beneath the surface. With the power to scan root systems underground in just seconds — without disturbing the plants — RootBot is helping researchers fast-track the development of stronger, more drought-resilient crops.
It’s a game-changer not just for agriculture, but for the future of sustainable, plant-based food systems, according to University of Queensland researchers.
“Given the critical role of the root system to access water and nutrient resources, it is perplexing how little we know about the genotypic diversity of root traits and their effect on crop yield and yield stability,” said Dr Dongxue Zhao from the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation.
“Most root phenotyping methods focus on 2D and 3D visualisations of root architecture traits, usually on young plants grown under controlled conditions in pots or root chambers.”
“But because of environmental variables and how plants adapt and respond to them, such studies can’t untangle the whole relationship between root architecture, root function and yield.”
Designed in partnership with German robotics firm AntRobotics, RootBot uses electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors to analyse root and canopy traits in the field. Its speed and precision open new doors for identifying which plant varieties can best survive heat, drought, and poor soil — conditions that are becoming more common as the climate shifts.
“Our approach doesn’t disturb the crop, and its measurements are non-invasive and rapid,” Dr Zhao said. “Now, we can cheaply phenotype a 5-metre-long plot every 8 seconds, meaning that we can assess about 250 field plots per hour.”
The technology is already being used on cereal crops — the cornerstone of many vegan and vegetarian diets — and its potential for helping feed a growing, plant-based world is enormous.
“The technology will allow researchers and providers of digital agriculture services to screen large numbers of genotypes for root traits which likely drive drought tolerance and yield stability,” Dr Zhao said.
“Agronomists could use it to map maximum crop rooting depth and plant available water across paddocks to inform precision agriculture practices.”
Dr Raul Gimenez, a fellow researcher on the project, added that RootBot could also support data-driven agriculture in new ways.
“This technology has the potential to be used not only in root phenotyping, but in combining information from above-ground traits as well to give us a better understanding of what is happening with our crops and how to improve them,” he said.
“We’re in an era where machine learning and big data are very useful tools, but we need to feed them with information – this robot provides us the means to feed these very powerful models with the information that they need.”
The project — “Root structure and function traits: Overcoming the root phenotyping bottleneck in cereals” — is funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and involves a global partnership of researchers, digital ag companies, and seed innovators.
The research was published in Plant and Soil.
