FarmFlying fruit-picking robots

Flying Autonomous Robots

Name: Flying Autonomous Robots
Brand: Tevel Aerobotics Technologies

Tevel makes small drones, tied by cables to a ground vehicle, that fly through orchards and pick fruit with an arm. It says they pick apples, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums and pears. AgFunderNews, 20 Jan 2022

Stage 4 of 5

Paying customers

Which rule placed it

Evidence: Company-reported only
Human help: Not disclosed
Last milestone: 30 May 2023

01Can I get it?

Yes, in places

Where it works today: Tevel names growers it works with in Italy, the US (California) and Chile. Tevel website
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.

30 May 2023
Pilot
Chilean fruit company Unifrutti harvested several apple varieties in its orchards using Tevel robots, from March to May.
Fruit Growers News, 30 May 2023
18 April 2023
Update
Tevel was named one of the Top-10 New Products at the World Ag Expo farm show.
AgFunderNews, 18 Apr 2023
18 April 2023
Paying customers · sets the stage
Tevel said it was serving growers in Europe and the US, including HMC Farms in California.
AgFunderNews, 18 Apr 2023Company-reported
28 March 2023
Pilot
Tevel was testing its robots with growers in the western US. Its US manager said they were slower than a human picker.
Farm Progress, 28 Mar 2023
20 Jan 2022
Pilot
Tevel ran its first commercial trial in an apple orchard in Italy.
AgFunderNews, 20 Jan 2022Company-reported
27 Jan 2021
Funding
Tevel raised $20 million, with Japanese machinery maker Kubota and China's Forbon among the investors.
AgFunderNews, 27 Jan 2021Company-reported

03Promised vs delivered

What the maker said, and when

Dated targets the maker set in public, against what has happened since.

Said27 Jan 2021
Fully available to farmers by end of 2021
Tevel expected its flying robots to be fully available to farmers by the end of 2021. AgFunderNews, 27 Jan 2021
Missed
In 2023 Tevel was still running trials and partnerships with a few named growers.
Said20 Jan 2022
Hundreds of units in operation in 2023
Tevel's founder said the company planned to have hundreds of robots working the next year. AgFunderNews, 20 Jan 2022
Still pending
No source we opened gave a count of robots in use.

04Safety 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.

On video

What it looks like, at stage 4

Videos from the maker show the robot at its best. The stage comes from the dated record above, not from what a video shows.

Maker's video · 30 Sept 2026Apples Picking

Maker's video · 10 Nov 2023The Robots Are Here: Tevel & Kubota Showcase the Future of Fruit Harvesting

Maker's video · 29 May 2023Unifrutti & Tevel Partner To Bring Autonomous Harvesting to Chile

Maker's video · 10 May 2023Tevel Takes the Spotlight in Israeli TV Channel 13 Interview

Maker's video · 7 May 2023Video Bolzano 33 highlights Tevel at 2022 Interpoma Conference

Maker's video · 2 May 2023France 2 TV Report on Tevel's Fruit-Picking Robots

Every robot video

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 customersThis robot
Delivered to customers who pay for it, beyond a trial, or a paid service the public can use.
Placed by: Tevel said it was serving growers in Europe and the US, including HMC Farms in California (18 April 2023).
3
Pilot
Working with a named customer in a real setting, as a trial.
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 found no 2024 to 2026 news confirming how many robots are working or whether Tevel is still operating at scale.

Sources

Cite this page

Robotics Verdict. “Flying Autonomous Robots (Tevel Aerobotics Technologies): how far has it got?” roboticsverdict.com/robots/tevel. Checked 19 October 2026.