FarmCrop-scanning field robot

Tom crop-scanning robot

Name: Tom crop-scanning robot
Brand: Small Robot Company

Small Robot Company, from Salisbury in England, started in 2017 and built small farm robots. Its Tom robot scanned fields to find weeds so farmers could treat only where needed. The company went into liquidation in 2024. Farmers Guardian, 9 Feb 2024

EndedSmall Robot Company shut down in February 2024 after failing to raise its next round; Kroll was appointed to sell its assets. The stage below shows how far it got.

Stage 3 of 5

Pilot

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Independently reported
Human help: Not disclosed
Last milestone: 2 Feb 2024

01Can I get it?

Only through a trial

Where it works today: Nowhere: the company stopped trading and liquidators were appointed in February 2024. Farmers Guardian, 9 Feb 2024
Published price: No published price in our sources.
Human help: The maker hasn't said whether people help it remotely.

02Track record

What has actually happened

Every milestone is dated and links to the page it comes from. Lines marked company-reported rest on the maker's own word.

2 Feb 2024
Setback
Farmers Weekly reported that farmers who had invested in the company might not get their money back.
Farmers Weekly, 2 Feb 2024
1 Feb 2024
Setback
Small Robot Company shut down after failing to raise the money for its next stage; Kroll was appointed to sell its assets.
The Robot Report, 2 Feb 2024
8 May 2023
Update
The company said its service that season had shown up to 90% savings on weedkiller and 24% on fertiliser.
Future Farming, 8 May 2023Company-reported
8 May 2023
Setback
Its lead investor pulled out of a planned funding round, leaving the company without money to keep going.
Future Farming, 8 May 2023Company-reported
5 June 2022
Update
The company said it would roll out its robot crop-scanning service to 50 farms the next season, with nearby farms sharing a robot.
Farmers Weekly, 5 June 2022Company-reported
5 June 2022
Pilot · sets the stage
Waitrose's Leckford Estate farm was among the first in the UK to sign up for the robot service.
Farmers Weekly, 5 June 2022
2022
Update
At the end of 2022 the company launched version 4 of Tom, its crop-scouting robot.
Future Farming, 8 May 2023Company-reported

03Safety and incidents

What has gone wrong

No crashes, recalls or regulator reports in our sources. That is not proof none happened; we add them when a regulator or trusted outlet reports one.

How we placed it

The rule, not an opinion

Stages are worked out by published rules from the dated milestones above. We never rate robots, and no maker can pay to change a stage.

5
Regulator-cleared or mass market
A regulator has cleared it where approval applies: FDA clearance or approval for a medical robot, a permit to run with no one aboard for a self-driving vehicle, or an FAA approval for routine drone flights. Or: Widely sold: sales in the hundreds of thousands, or a product category you can buy in ordinary shops.
4
Paying customers
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
3
PilotThis robot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
Placed by: Waitrose's Leckford Estate farm was among the first in the UK to sign up for the robot service (5 June 2022).
2
Pre-orders
Orders, reservations or deposits taken, with nothing delivered yet.
1
Demo only
Shown in videos, staged events or a factory, with no units working for customers.

What we couldn't confirm. We could not confirm how many farms actually used the service or whether anyone bought the robots or technology after the liquidation. The Robot Report, citing Crunchbase, put total funding at $13.18 million.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Tom crop-scanning robot (Small Robot Company): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/small-robot-company. Checked 19 October 2026.