A potentially game-changing development in the world of automation has been reported this week, as a Japanese company has announced that it is to open the world’s first robot-run farm, in an attempt to curb the country’s labour shortage.

Spread, a vegetable producer based in Kameoka, announced that, from 2017, all but one of the tasks necessary to grow the tens of thousands of lettuces it produces every day at its indoor farm will be carried out by industrial robots.

Apart from planting the initial seeds, everything, from watering to harvesting the crops, will be done by robots. This, claims Spread, will allow the business to increase production from 21,000 to 50,000 lettuces daily, whilst also increasing efficiency, reducing labour and energy costs, and allowing for 98% of the water used to be recycled.

“Our new farm could become a model for other farms, but our aim is not to replace human farmers, but to develop a system where humans and machines work together,” said Spread’s global marketing manager, JJ Price. “We want to generate interest in farming, particularly among young people.”

Using new technologies to increase energy efficiency and production rates, without increasing human unemployment, represents the holy-grail for environmentally friendly, technologically savvy companies. This development might just prove to be the breakthrough and template that many other organisations have been waiting for.