It started at an exhibition in the Netherlands.
The story began at a horticultural exhibition in the Netherlands. There we met a robot distributed by a Hungarian company, in which we immediately saw the potential. The technology caught our attention primarily because it enabled workflows where precision and consistent work are particularly important. This coincided exactly with what we needed. We had a specific area where we had to work with very strictly defined planting distances. We were looking for a solution with which the position of the saplings could be determined and prepared as accurately as possible.
The technology seen at the exhibition triggered an idea in us: What if we could apply this to afforestation as well?
Later, we also ordered a suitable grinding head for the machine from Austria, which fits our work. This is how the solution we use in our afforestation work today gradually developed.
When the terrain dictates the rules
We had areas where we had to work with precisely predefined planting distances. In these cases, it is not only about how many saplings are placed in the ground, but also exactly where they are placed.
Of course, a wide variety of afforestation tasks can be performed by human labor. On the field, however, the accuracy of the work can be influenced by many factors. Due to terrain conditions, work pace, long working days, and natural variations resulting from human labor, it is not possible to determine every single planting point with completely identical accuracy. A small discrepancy on its own may not mean much. However, over a larger area with thousands of saplings, these variations can add up. And we had the area, we had the distances, and the demand was clear: we wanted to work more accurately.
That was when the robotic solution really started to make sense to us.
Not instead of humans
For us, when introducing the robot, the question was not whether it would replace humans. Rather, it was about which workflow it could perform more efficiently and accurately. Afforestation remains a job that requires professional knowledge, experience, and field presence. The robot does not take over this knowledge, but instead gives us a tool that allows for greater precision and more consistent work in certain tasks. It can move autonomously in the programmed area and works according to the predefined system.
Its most important task for us is not the planting of the saplings itself. The robot prepares the site for the saplings. It can create up to four planting holes at once, while recording the exact location of the work using GPS. This might sound like a mere technical detail at first. In practice, however, this is precisely one of the features that make it truly interesting to us.
What can it actually do?
What makes the robot special for us is that several technological solutions work together in a single workflow.
• it can move autonomously in the programmed area,
• it can work continuously for up to 24 hours,
• it performs the work according to the predefined system,
• it can create up to four planting holes at the same time,
• it records the location of the work using GPS,
• it monitors changes in the terrain's elevation and slope,
• it detects and manages obstacles in its path,
• it can be controlled remotely,
• cameras and sensors assist its operation,
• with the help of the grinding head, it mulches vegetation, weeds, and other herbaceous plants found in the area,
• the workflows can be predefined,
• and it enables a level of accuracy in field work that is harder to maintain continuously with manual labor.
Technology does not replace field experience
The forest is still born in the field. The right sapling must be selected. The area must be surveyed and prepared. The appropriate planting system must be determined, then the work must be carried out, and later monitored and cared for. These tasks still require professionals.
Technology does not replace professional knowledge in this. It complements it.
For us, robotization is not the goal in itself either. The goal is to be able to work more accurately, in a more organized, and more efficient manner, while ensuring that field experience and human expertise remain an integral part of our work.
Because in the end, it is not the robot that is important. It is what goes into the ground, where it goes, and what kind of forest will grow from it decades from now.
