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ACTIA & SHERPA Engineering partner on advanced agricultural automation
A new solution merges high-performance HPC hardware with real-time autonomous navigation, enabling robust automation, 3D localization, safety functions, and complex terrain operation.
www.actia.com
ACTIA and SHERPA Engineering announce a strategic partnership aimed at integrating SHERPA’s autonomous navigation technology into ACTIA’s high-performance HPC controller. This collaboration seeks to develop a unique market solution: a robust, industrial-grade HPC capable of running in real time the advanced algorithms for perception, 3D localization, planning, and control required for the automation of agricultural machines and robots.
A partnership driving next-generation agricultural robotics
The agricultural sector is undergoing a major transformation: robotization has become a necessity. Farms increasingly operate in unstructured and hard-to-access environments — rugged terrain, terraced crops, forest areas, complex topographies, or even unmapped zones. In such conditions, farmers must simultaneously manage vehicle driving, agricultural tools, safety, and decision-making — a significant cognitive load.
At the same time, numerous studies show that robotics combined with artificial intelligence is a powerful lever to accelerate the agroecological transition. The targeted and precise use of robots can significantly reduce the use of phytosanitary products while minimizing environmental impact. Robots can also take over repetitive, labor-intensive, or time-consuming tasks, allowing farmers to focus on higher value-added activities.
At both national and international levels, momentum around agricultural robotics continues to grow: research programs, innovation funding, testing platforms, and technology competitions all reflect the urgency and strategic importance of integrating robotics technologies into agriculture.
The market’s demand is clear: robust, autonomous, or semi-autonomous agricultural machines capable of operating in real-world conditions. The partnership between SHERPA Engineering and ACTIA provides a concrete and industrializable response to this need.
By combining:
- ACTIA HPC, a high-performance embedded controller designed for harsh environments,
- and the SHERPA software module, which integrates real-time perception, 3D localization, planning, and control functions.
The two partners offer a complete solution to accelerate the integration of autonomous robotics into agricultural machines.
The collaboration between SHERPA and ACTIA provides a comprehensive industrial solution to meet the agricultural sector’s robotization needs.
The partnership aims to deploy SHERPA’s autonomous navigation software module — which integrates multi-sensor perception, 3D localization, planning, and control functions — currently running on Nvidia controllers, onto ACTIA’s high-performance HPC, making it an industrializable solution.
As part of this integration, the ACTIA HPC will host essential machine safety functions, including secure geofencing (defining a virtual work zone) and obstacle/person detection and avoidance.
Machine manufacturers and agricultural robot producers will thus have a ready-to-use solution combining autonomous navigation and operational safety on a single controller.
Key use cases for farmers include:
The collaboration between SHERPA and ACTIA provides a comprehensive industrial solution to meet the agricultural sector’s robotization needs.
The partnership aims to deploy SHERPA’s autonomous navigation software module — which integrates multi-sensor perception, 3D localization, planning, and control functions — currently running on Nvidia controllers, onto ACTIA’s high-performance HPC, making it an industrializable solution.
As part of this integration, the ACTIA HPC will host essential machine safety functions, including secure geofencing (defining a virtual work zone) and obstacle/person detection and avoidance.
Machine manufacturers and agricultural robot producers will thus have a ready-to-use solution combining autonomous navigation and operational safety on a single controller.
Key use cases for farmers include:
- Autonomous row guidance (vineyards, orchards, vegetable crops)
- Trajectory following for repetitive tasks (mechanical weeding, targeted spraying, pasture mowing)
- Partial autonomous vehicle control: the operator can focus on the agricultural implement or operation quality while the vehicle handles movement
- Navigation in complex terrain (uneven ground, terraced crops, etc.) for safe, robust, and controlled operation.
Thanks to the ACTIA platform and the SHERPA module, manufacturers have access to:
- Advanced software (SHERPA),
- Robust, industrializable hardware (ACTIA HPC),
- A testing and validation center (through the AgroTechnoPôle and SHERPA’s testing facilities).
