Niqo Robotics is expanding its U.S. operation beyond lettuce into a wider set of specialty crops and plans to ship an upgraded RoboWeeder later in 2026, the company says as it pushes toward profitability. profitable 2026-27 is the target the firm has set for the current financial year, and the new machine release is central to that plan.
Niqo currently has units operating in California, Arizona and Georgia and is lining up work in the Pacific Northwest for turf grass projects.
RoboWeeder upgrade 2026 will focus on improved AI performance, operational efficiency and broader crop libraries for onions, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, melons and turf grass. Farmers remain focused on returns rather than hype, CEO Jaisimha Rao says: "Farmers just want to know when it will pay off, what's the maintenance like, and how it will make me money or save me money." Rao stresses that growers judge technology by concrete economics and uptime rather than marketing claims. The RoboWeeder is designed as a tractor-mounted implement roughly 20 feet wide that uses multiple cameras to distinguish crops from weeds and perform thinning, spot spraying and beneficial applications in a single pass.
Economics and deployment Payback estimates vary by crop and region, but Niqo positions the RoboWeeder as a labor-saving substitute in high-cost specialty crops. Rao cites labor costs for lettuce thinning and weeding in California and Arizona around $185–$200 per acre and a unit price of about $350,000. Early deployments averaged roughly 1,500 acres per season per unit, which at those labor rates can equal several hundred thousand dollars in avoided hand-labor costs across a season; Niqo calculates typical ROI at 12–18 month payback. The company sells hardware through dealer networks rather than direct to growers and does not rely on a recurring software subscription; it offers a maintenance package to cover cameras and in-cab systems.
Niqo's product line includes the tractor-retrofittable RoboWeeder for U.S. specialty crops and a self-propelled RoboSpray platform used in other markets for spot spraying of pesticides and biologicals. The firm says manufacturing for U.S. customers has shifted to the United States while certain camera components continue to be sourced from overseas. Supply-chain pressure for key chips and memory — driven by demand in large data centers — is a constraint that has raised lead times and costs for small robotics firms. Competitors in the U.S. specialty-spot-spray and weeding space include firms focused on precision spraying and laser weeding, and Niqo positions itself alongside those companies as a farm-implement solution that trades some speed for higher precision on mixed and delicate crops.
Markets and next steps Niqo plans to expand turf-grass work in Washington and Oregon and sees U.S. onions as a crop where chemical-reduction use cases are emerging. The company also expects larger scale growth in emerging-market regions where high-quality weeding labor is scarce and different go-to-market approaches, including OEM partnerships and white-labeling, may be used.
Niqo has set a sales target for the 2026-27 financial year to become profitable as a group entity, a milestone management says will give the company greater control over future investment and growth choices.
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