https://sowbot.co.uk/ Skip to content sowbot The Open AgBot Menu + Hardware + Home + Software Open Ag robot for Research | Farmers | Startups Cultivating the Future: Scaling Regenerative Agriculture through Open Robotics. Hardware Software About Our mission is to bridge the gap between sustainability and scale by providing researchers and farmers with reproducible, lightweight robotics that reduce labour and environmental impact without proprietary dependencies. The Sowbot Open AgBot ecosystem is designed to bridge the "prototype gap" in agricultural robotics. It provides a Reference Hardware Design that is accessible to startups and is developing a Production-Ready Software Stack that satisfies the rigorous requirements of research. For startups, this eliminates ~18 months of R&D on the "plumbing" (drivers, networking, UI), allowing them to focus on their unique value (e.g., a proprietary seeding algorithm). For researchers, it provides a stable, repeatable environment where experiments can be shared across labs by simply sharing a Docker image. Check the Roadmap on Github Open Core: The robot 'brain' [WhatsApp-Image-2026-01-30-at-14] Status: Largely fabricated/ constructed, ESP32 carrier needs some work A fully open-hardware robot compute unit built around a stackable 10 cm x 10 cm module standard with two Avaota A1 SIngle Board Computers (SBC) connected via a single ethernet cable. Board A: Control & Safety Board A is the primary controller responsible for the robot's physical integrity and movement. Core Tasks: ROS 2 navigation stack, topological mapping, and EKF localization. Hardware: Direct serial link to the ESP32 (Lizard firmware) for motor control and safety watchdogs, for deterministic real-time control. Priority: Executes real-time path planning and emergency stop logic. Board B: Perception & AI Board B acts as a dedicated vision processor for compute-heavy tasks. Core Tasks: Camera drivers, image pre-processing, and neural network inference (e.g., YOLO). Output: Processes raw video into lightweight detection coordinates or semantic labels. Priority: High-bandwidth data handling without impacting SBC A's CPU stability. Native CAN bus support enables robust field-level communication. Dual GNSS RTK receivers provide centimetre-scale positioning for navigation and task execution. All schematics, PCB layouts, and firmware are released under open licences. The system is housed in a rugged, waterproof aluminium enclosure with M12 connectors, designed for long-term outdoor deployment. Photo Component Description Qty Octa-core 64-bit ARM Yuzuki Yuzuki Avaota-A1 Cortex-A55 (up to 1.8 GHz), Avaota-A1 SBC SBC 4 GB RAM, integrated AI 2 accelerator. Open-hardware platform. Real-time Lizard control node ESP32-S3 ESP32-S3 and general-purpose peripheral 1 Microcontroller Microcontroller I/O on custom open hardware PCB. Adafruit 9-DOF Absolute BNO055 BNO055 IMU Orientation IMU Fusion 1 Breakout - BNO055 CAN Bus CAN interface breakout for Breakout CAN Bus Breakout deterministic, vehicle-grade 1 communication. SparkFun GNSS SparkFun GNSS RTK High-precision GNSS RTK or alternate positioning with RTK support. 2 Septentrio Mosaic 36V - 12V & 5V Custom-fabricated power 12V to 5V Power Power Conversion & regulation and electrical 1 Conversion PCB Isolation from isolation board. motor noise Waterproof Waterproof Sealed aluminum enclosure with Aluminum Aluminum Enclosure M12 connectors for rugged 1 Enclosure deployments. Sowbot: The body Status: Detailed BOM & concept but not yet assembled The Open core module above powers the Open AgBot reference platform. This integrates high-performance motors, precise control, long-lasting batteries suitable for Low temp <0C charging and rugged suspension into a fully modular, open-hardware agricultural robot. Modular chassis and standardised connections enable rapid expansion and reconfiguration, providing full control over electronics, software, and mechanics for a versatile, field-ready system. [My-First-Board3] +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Photo | Component | Description |Qty | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| | |Odrive CAN Bus Drivers |High-performance motor | | |Odrive CAN|with (Open hardware |control with real-time | | |Bus |version, in development) |CAN communication for |2 | |Drivers |Later migration to |precise torque and speed | | | |SimpleFOC hardware |regulation. | | | |possible | | | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| |14.5 | |14.5'' Geared hub motors | | |inch,36V | |100N.m with 4096*10 | | |500W hub |800W Hub motor |encoder delivering good |4 | |motor | |acceleration and | | | | |traction. | | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| |32 V | |High-capacity energy | | |Sodium-Ion|12V 80Ah Sodium-Ion |modules providing | | |Battery |Battery Packs |long-duration power for |6 | |Packs | |fully autonomous | | | | |operation. | | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| | | |Shock-absorbing | | | |5'' Fatbike Suspension |suspension for smooth | | |5 |Forks |navigation across rough |4 | | | |terrain and dynamic | | | | |environments. | | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| | | |Lightweight aluminium | | |Modular | |tube sections forming a | | |Chassis |Modular Chassis Structure|flexible backbone for |Many| |Structure | |sensors, processors, and | | | | |actuators | | |----------+-------------------------+-------------------------+----| | | |Aluminium 90deg crossover | | |Chassis | |and modular pipe fittings| | |Connectors|Chassis Connectors |used to join tubing at |Many| | | |right angles for | | | | |structural frames. | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ Sowbot Mini (dev platform) Status: Needs assembly and testing A 1/4 scale development platform for testing and validation [robot] Dev platform Components Description Quantity Driver Odrive 2 Electric wheel 6.5'' hub with encoder 4 Chassis structure 1515 extrusion many Chassis connections 1515 corner Many Sowbot Pico (dev platform) Status: Requires some Lizard firmware work, but physical platform tested with alternate software [picosowbot] Track issue here Software Software stack(s) Lizard The Sowbot Platform leverages Lizard developed by Zauberzeug for real-time robot orchestration, using its framework to manage sensor input, motor control, and navigation. Lizard enables seamless communication between the processor, microcontrollers, and peripherals, coordinating autonomous operations while remaining fully open and customisable. Lizard supports a range of motor drivers RoSys On top of Lizard, developers can use RoSys, an asyncio-based Python framework, to simplify control loops, messaging, and UI, arguably the fastest route to a working robot. The agricultural implementation, Field Friend, built by Zauberzeug on RoSys to coordinate autonomous navigation and field operations. DevKit ROS Our primary development is on DevKit ROS, a full ROS-based development kit tailored to the Sowbot Platform, based on work by Zauberzeug. DevKit ROS provides standard ROS tooling, sensor drivers, simulation support and community interoperability, making it ideal for teams already invested in the ROS ecosystem or requiring mature libraries for perception and planning. Software Roadmap Check the Roadmap on Github Contributing We welcome contributions! If you'd like to chat join this channel in the Personal robotics Discord [farmbotgan] Get in touch Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form. Name * [ ]First [ ]Last Email *[ ] Comment or Message *[ ] Phone[ ] Submit Participant in the EIT food seedbed program [Eit-Food-UE] Copyright (c) 2026 sowbot - OnePress theme by FameThemes