Market Context — Why This Technology, Why Now

The push for smart agriculture and precision farming is accelerating worldwide, fueled by increasing food demand and the need for cost reduction in large-scale operations. Regulatory pressures for worker safety and environmental sustainability also drive the adoption of automated solutions. This technology directly supports these trends by enabling reliable autonomous operations in complex field conditions, a critical bottleneck for widespread agricultural robot deployment.

Key Competitive Advantages
01

Achieves exceptional stability on slopes by continuously contacting both the top and side surfaces of ridges, reducing tip-over risk by ~66% compared to conventional methods and enabling safe autonomous operation.

02

Improves rough-terrain capability, increasing agricultural operation efficiency by ~20% due to stable machine movement, which reduces interruptions and expands annual workload capacity by up to 1.2 times.

03

Secures long-term market advantage with exclusive technology, having overcome rigorous examination and five prior art references to establish patentability, ensuring a strong market position until 2041.

Market Opportunity
🚜 Smart Agricultural Machinery
$1.5B globally (AI est.)
Driven by labor shortages and demand for precision agriculture, investment in autonomous tractors and robots is accelerating. Stabilized ridge traversal is an essential function for these systems.
Major agricultural machinery manufacturers Autonomous farm equipment developers Robotics companies specializing in outdoor navigation
🌾 Agricultural DX Solutions
$2.0B globally (AI est.)
When combined with data-driven agriculture and remote monitoring systems, this technology could become a core component for improving overall farm management efficiency and productivity.
Agricultural software and data platform providers IoT solution developers for farming Remote sensing and monitoring system integrators
🌍 Global Agricultural Robotics
$20B globally (AI est.)
Global food demand and cost reduction pressures in large-scale agriculture are accelerating the shift towards automation and unmanned operations. This technology offers high competitiveness in the global market.
Global agricultural robot manufacturers Large-scale farm equipment suppliers Robotics firms targeting outdoor industrial applications
IP Defensibility — Why Competitors Can't Replicate This
What This Patent Covers

This patent protects a stable locomotion apparatus for traversing sloped, trapezoidal ridges, specifically covering the dual-contact mechanism of running wheels and sloped-surface grounders. It demonstrates strong patentability, having successfully navigated rigorous examination and prior art challenges.

Competitive White Space

While protecting stable locomotion on ridges, this patent does not cover advanced AI-driven path planning for complex field navigation or integration with diverse sensor payloads for precision agriculture applications beyond basic movement. Licensees could develop IP in these areas.

Economic Impact
~$100K/year estimated cost reduction per facility (est.)
estimated ROI · USD · AI analysis
ROI Calculation Logic

Implementing this technology eliminates manual labor and cautious operation on ridges, estimated to reduce working hours by ~20%. For example, 10,000 hours of annual ridge work at $20/hour (AI est.) labor cost totals $200K (AI est.) annually. A 20% reduction saves $40K (AI est.) per year. Additionally, an estimated $60K (AI est.) in annual savings from reduced repair costs and crop damage due to tip-over accidents could lead to a total economic benefit of ~$100K (AI est.) per year.

Speed to Market
5× faster than in-house development
This technology features a modular and simple mechanism comprising a main body, running wheels, and sloped-surface grounders. Developing a similar technology from scratch, including design, prototyping, and field testing for stable operation, could take at least 4.0 years. However, by licensing this patent, which has established technical principles and is available for licensing, integration into existing agricultural machinery or robot platforms, validation, and market launch could be achieved in approximately 0.8 years, significantly shortening time-to-market.
Competitive Positioning

X: Rough Terrain Capability
Y: Operational Safety

Business Models & Applications
⚙️ Product Integration Licensing
Integrate this technology into the locomotion systems of existing agricultural machinery (tractors, transplanters, weeding robots) to enhance product value and competitiveness.
🌐 Service Platform Provider
Develop ridge-traversing robots incorporating this technology and offer them as agricultural contracting services or rental services to farmers. A monthly subscription model could also be considered.
🤝 Joint Development & Tech Partnership
Partner with agricultural machinery manufacturers or IT companies to co-develop next-generation smart agriculture solutions centered on this technology, creating new markets.
Adjacent Application Opportunities
🚧 Construction & Civil Engineering
Slope-Adaptive Inspection Robots
Adapt for inspection and surveying robots in unstable or difficult-to-access construction sites. Stable traversal on slopes, enabled by the sloped-surface grounders, could ensure worker safety and efficient data collection, potentially reducing survey time by 30%.
🛰️ Infrastructure Inspection
Power Line & Pipeline Inspection Vehicles
Apply to small inspection vehicles for tasks like vegetation management under power lines or pipeline patrols on uneven, unpaved roads. This technology could enable stable movement, leading to more efficient remote infrastructure maintenance and reducing manual inspection costs by 25%.
🌲 Forestry & Environmental Survey
Mountainous Terrain Survey & Transport Robots
Utilize for terrain surveying or small material transport robots in rugged mountainous areas. The stability provided by the sloped-surface grounders could automate hazardous tasks previously reliant on human labor, improving safety and efficiency by 40% in difficult terrains.
Integration Roadmap — Estimated 18-Month Deployment
Technical Feasibility & Requirements
Duration: 3 months
Evaluate the technology's compatibility with existing product lines and define specific implementation goals and requirements. Conduct simulation-based verification of running performance.
Prototype Development & Validation
Duration: 6 months
Design the integration of this technology into existing machines and build prototypes. Conduct field tests on actual ridges, acquiring data on stability and safety.
Mass Production Design & Market Prep
Duration: 9 months
Optimize design for mass production based on validation results. Establish production systems and formulate regulatory compliance and sales strategies for market launch.
Technical Feasibility
This technology features a clear modular structure—main body, running wheels, and sloped-surface grounders—making it easy to integrate into existing agricultural machinery and robot platforms. The sloped-surface grounder, rotating coaxially with the running wheel, achieves high stability with a simple mechanism, significantly simplifying complex control systems. This allows for implementation without major changes to existing machine designs, lowering technical hurdles and enabling rapid deployment.
Success Scenario
Upon adopting this technology, companies could significantly automate agricultural tasks on ridges that previously relied on manual labor. This could allow workers to focus on higher-value tasks, potentially increasing overall productivity by an estimated 25%. Furthermore, reducing tip-over risks on slopes could dramatically enhance operational safety, potentially saving approximately $65K (AI est.) annually in accident-related costs.
Patent Record
APPLICATION NO.
特願2021-037074
REGISTRATION NO.
7553024
FILING DATE
2021/03/09
GRANT DATE
2024/09/09
EXPIRATION DATE
2041/03/09
PATENT HOLDER
国立研究開発法人農業・食品産業技術総合研究機構
Examination History
2023年11月22日
出願審査請求書
2024年05月21日
拒絶理由通知書
2024年06月06日
意見書
2024年06月06日
手続補正書（自発・内容）
2024年08月20日
特許査定