The harvesting robot project Polybot is supported by the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (Deutsche Agentur für Sprunginnovation: SPRIND) with a seven-month validation grant of approximately 220,000 euros. This funding will help the team to prepare the transition from scientific research to founding a start-up company. The project, which has so far been supported by the Tübingen AI Center at the University of Tübingen, the ELLIS Institute Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, combines top-level research with practical application and strengthens Tübingen as an innovation location within the Cyber Valley.

Tübingen, Germany, February 25, 2025 - The Polybot project, an initiative to develop a versatile agricultural robot, receives support from SPRIND. During the seven-month validation phase, the AI technology will be evaluated using the example of harvesting. After successful validation, SPRIND could then support the project along with private investment in the creation of a company.

Polybot at Venture SPRIND Event

In addition to the contract award, SPRIND will support the Polybot team with intensive mentoring, guidance, and strategic development support. The team will also have access to investors and will pitch their business idea to over 300 potential investors at the Venture SPRIND event in Berlin in April 2025. "This contract underlines the fact that Polybot is not an ivory tower idea, but a concrete solution for future-proof, sustainable agriculture," says project leader Wieland Brendel from the ELLIS Institute in Tübingen, Germany.

The close collaboration with SPRIND is an important success for the Tübingen AI ecosystem. Polybot is a good example of how the Tübingen AI Center combines leading research with societal applications. "This first external validation motivates our team enormously," says Martin Kiefel, technical leader of the project." With the support, we can now train our learning algorithms on the most difficult tasks in agriculture, the harvesting of fine vegetables, and test them together with farmers in the field." Bernhard Schölkopf, Scientific Director of the ELLIS Institute, adds: "Excellent research unfolds its full power when it not only creates knowledge, but also helps to solve the challenges of our time.”