The history of Japan's agriculture is characterised by efforts to increase production and productivity. At the beginning of the 21st century, both public and private sector research has focused on developing ever-more sophisticated tools to address a wide-range of challenges facing the agricultural industry. An amazing array of automation technologies and robots have been developed in the process, to do everything from tilling fields to picking strawberries, from planting rice seedlings to autonomously weeding the paddies.

This richly-illustrated volume surveys the results of these efforts, concisely and plainly presenting specific examples of the latest robotic mechanisms and practices for agricultural applications.