Rebecca Manzi Brazilian startup AutoAgroMachines' Forest.bot robot plants 14,000+ trees daily with GPS precision, offering hope for Brazil's ambitious reforestation goals
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In a world where the climate emergency demands swift and effective solutions, a Brazilian startup has chosen to respond not with the usual fanfare of drones—as we’ve come to expect from reforestation projects—but with something far more grounded. Literally. Their answer comes in the form of a terrestrial robot capable of planting over 14,000 trees per day.
The star of this green revolution is called Forest.bot, an electric machine designed by AutoAgroMachines, a company founded by entrepreneur Marcello Guimarães. The robot, entirely designed and manufactured in Brazil, sits at the heart of a strategy aimed at restoring the country’s degraded areas in record time, particularly those precious parcels of the Amazon rainforest that have been lost to deforestation.
It’s worth noting that this isn’t just another tech gadget looking for a problem to solve. The 9-ton (approximately 19,800 pounds) Forest.bot emerged from very real frustration—Guimarães was looking for a solution to automate the planting of African mahogany on his farm in Roraima, and what started as sketches on a napkin during a flight has evolved into a machine that’s caught the attention of industry giants like Suzano and Eldorado.
Different technologies, shared ambitions
In the landscape of automated reforestation, two main approaches are establishing themselves. On one side, we have drones that scatter seeds from above at impressive speeds. On the other, we find robots like Forest.bot that plant pre-grown seedlings directly into the soil.
The difference isn’t just in the method used, but in the type of impact achieved. Drones excel in inaccessible terrain and operate at relatively low costs, but seed survival rates remain uncertain. You’re essentially playing the odds with nature, hoping that enough seeds will take root to justify the effort. The robot, however, guarantees precise and traceable planting, with each seedling equipped with GPS coordinates and species registration, ensuring complete monitoring throughout the growth process.
This precision matters more than you might think. While drones can cover vast areas quickly with pioneer species—those hardy plants that first colonize disturbed ground—robots like Forest.bot provide the surgical precision needed for biodiversity restoration. Each planted seedling has a digital identity, creating a detailed map for future automated interventions.
A tireless green machine
Forest.bot’s performance specifications read like something from a futuristic agriculture catalog. The machine can plant up to 1,800 seedlings per hour (that’s one every two seconds). But the real ambition stretches far beyond that impressive hourly rate. In 24 hours of continuous operation, it can reach 86,000 seedlings planted—numbers that place it among the absolute protagonists of large-scale reforestation.
Yet Forest.bot doesn’t stop at simple planting. The robot is designed to return to the field, check on the condition of seedlings, rehydrate them when necessary, and intervene in case of insect attacks or critical conditions. It’s a comprehensive system, conceived to accompany each tree through its growth journey. This follow-up capability addresses one of the most significant challenges in reforestation: the period immediately after planting when young trees are most vulnerable.
The machine’s patented sliding planting system ensures that seedlings are inserted into the soil without the dragging damage common to other mechanical planters. Using artificial intelligence, Forest.bot checks the quality of each planting in real-time, creating what the company calls “georeferenced maps” that optimize forest management, including irrigation and pest control.
The future grows from collaboration
The future of reforestation won’t be a race between drones and robots, but rather a collaborative effort. While drones can cover massive areas with pioneer species, terrestrial robots guarantee precision and variety, especially in more accessible terrain. Together, they represent concrete hope for reforesting Brazil and, perhaps, the entire world.
This technological partnership makes sense when you consider the scale of the challenge. Traditional reforestation is painfully slow—natural regeneration can take up to a century, while the risk of soil erosion and subsequent desertification looms over damaged areas. With Forest.bot’s capacity to plant what amounts to two soccer fields worth of seedlings every day, and with each tree capable of capturing an average of 1.36 pounds of carbon dioxide over its lifetime (equivalent to driving a car 1,491 miles), the numbers start to add up to something meaningful.
In a country that has committed to restoring 12 million hectares (29.6 million acres) of forest by 2030, tools like Forest.bot represent a concrete, fast, and sustainable response. With its $2.1 million investment through Brazil’s Industry 4.0 program, this robot brings something increasingly rare to environmental initiatives: the promise of scaling up without scaling back on precision.
The Forest.bot isn’t just planting trees—it’s planting the seeds of a new approach to environmental restoration, one where technology and nature work hand in hand. For Brazil’s forests, the future now has a new ally, one that carries the proud stamp of being 100% nationally made.
