Sami Robotics (Canada)

aginsights

Overview & History

Sami Robotics is a Canadian agricultural robotics company developing AI-powered autonomous machinery for selective vegetable harvesting and other labour-intensive field operations. Based in Varennes, Québec, the company is focused initially on broccoli harvesting but is developing its technology as a broader multifunctional field robotics platform.

The origins of the project date to 2018, when engineer and co-founder Éric Lapalme observed workers manually harvesting broccoli on his family farm and began exploring how machine vision, artificial intelligence and robotic arms could replicate the harvesting process. Early development resulted in the SAMI 4.0 robotic harvesting concept.

The current company was established as SAMI Agtech in 2023 and has subsequently evolved its market identity toward SAMI Robotics. The leadership team includes Pascal Labrecque, CEO and Co-Founder, and Éric Lapalme, CPO and Co-Founder.

A major milestone came during the 2025 season, when SAMI harvested broccoli that was commercially sold in Québec, moving the technology beyond laboratory development. In 2026, the company accelerated testing in California after being selected for the first Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology-sponsored residency at Reservoir Farms in Salinas.

Corporate Structure / Ownership

SAMI Robotics is a privately held Canadian AgTech company.

The company remains relatively small, with public information indicating approximately 11–50 employees, but combines expertise in:

agricultural robotics
artificial intelligence
machine vision
mechanical engineering
robotic manipulation
autonomous navigation
agricultural data analytics

Its headquarters and development activities are centred in Varennes, Québec, while California has become increasingly important for commercial field validation.

Core Business & Product Portfolio

SAMI’s core technology is a multifunctional robotic field platform designed initially for selective harvesting.

Broccoli Harvesting

Broccoli is the first commercially available application.

The machine uses:

artificial intelligence
computer vision
robotic arms
crop maturity detection
precision cutting mechanisms
artificial lighting
automated crop handling

Each robotic arm identifies a mature broccoli head, cuts it and collects it in under three seconds.

Machines can be configured with approximately 12 to 18 robotic arms operating simultaneously, allowing capacity to be adapted to different farms and bed configurations.

Unlike conventional mechanical harvesters that harvest the entire crop simultaneously, SAMI performs selective harvesting, collecting only vegetables identified as ready.

Multi-Crop Harvesting

Broccoli is intended as the entry point rather than the final market.

SAMI identifies additional harvesting applications including:

romaine lettuce – coming soon
iceberg lettuce – in development
cauliflower – in development
artichokes – in development

The underlying strategy is to reuse the same robotic platform while changing software, perception models and crop-specific tools.

Field Operations

SAMI is also developing applications beyond harvesting, including:

mechanical/precision weeding
thinning
fertilisation
pest control

These capabilities remain under development.

Product Scope Clarification

SAMI Robotics develops:

autonomous harvesting machinery
robotic harvesting arms
machine-vision systems
AI crop-recognition technology
autonomous field platforms
agricultural data analytics
crop forecasting capabilities
future weeding, thinning and precision application systems

SAMI does NOT currently manufacture:

tractors
combines
conventional vegetable harvesters
sprayers
seed drills
balers
telehandlers
engines

Its industrial focus is AI-powered multifunctional field robotics for specialty crops.

Technology & Engineering / Digital Approach

SAMI’s technological architecture combines:

Machine vision • AI • Robotics • Autonomy • Data analytics

Machine vision identifies individual vegetables and evaluates whether each plant has reached harvest maturity. Robotic arms then selectively cut and collect only suitable produce.

Artificial lighting enables the machine to operate during both daytime and nighttime, potentially extending harvesting windows beyond those available to conventional labour crews.

The platform also collects agronomic information while moving through the crop. SAMI states that the system can analyse field conditions during harvesting and help forecast which vegetables will become harvestable during the following days.

This data capability is strategically important because it potentially transforms the machine from a harvesting robot into a continuous crop-intelligence platform.

SAMI’s selective robotic harvesting technology is patented in Canada, the United States and Europe, while additional patent applications cover aspects of the mobile platform and field tools.

Manufacturing & Industrial Footprint

SAMI’s principal engineering base is located in Varennes, Québec, Canada.

The company remains at the industrialisation and commercial-scale validation stage rather than operating as a conventional high-volume machinery manufacturer.

Canada remains the core R&D location, while California is becoming the principal field-development environment. In July 2026, Western Growers selected SAMI for its first sponsored residency at Reservoir Farms in Salinas. The programme provides commercial vegetable acreage, shared R&D facilities, machinery and direct feedback from growers.

This is strategically important because California represents one of the world’s largest concentrated markets for high-value vegetable production and agricultural labour-intensive harvesting.

Markets & Distribution / Customer Base

SAMI primarily targets large-scale producers of:

broccoli
lettuce
cauliflower
artichokes
other specialty vegetables

Initial development has been concentrated in Canada and the United States.

The company currently offers field demonstrations in California, indicating that the US specialty-crop industry is becoming its primary commercialisation target.

Australia could represent another future market. SAMI participated in a 2025 Australian vegetable-industry programme involving visits and discussions with broccoli and lettuce growers in Victoria and Queensland.

Strengths & Competitive Advantages

Strong focus on labour-intensive specialty crops
Selective rather than indiscriminate harvesting
Less than three seconds harvesting cycle per robotic arm
12–18 arms operating simultaneously
Multi-crop platform architecture
Day and night operation
Integrated field-data collection
Crop maturity forecasting potential
Patented harvesting technology
Commercial broccoli harvest achieved in 2025
Active California field validation

Weaknesses / Constraints

Early commercialisation stage
Limited installed base
High technical complexity
Vegetable harvesting presents major variability challenges
Economics versus manual labour still require validation at scale
Limited current crop portfolio
Small organisation compared with established machinery OEMs
Service infrastructure still developing

Reliability, throughput and economics under real commercial conditions will ultimately determine whether SAMI can move from successful field demonstrations to large-scale adoption.

Outlook & Opportunities

SAMI addresses one of the strongest structural pressures facing specialty-crop agriculture: labour availability.

Harvesting crops such as broccoli and lettuce remains highly dependent on manual workers because maturity can vary significantly between individual plants. Selective harvesting is therefore substantially more difficult to mechanise than harvesting cereals or other crops collected simultaneously.

SAMI’s principal opportunities include:

commercial-scale broccoli harvesting
lettuce harvesting
cauliflower and artichoke harvesting
autonomous weeding
automated thinning
precision fertilisation
pest-control applications
crop inventory mapping
yield forecasting
expansion into California and other major vegetable regions

The crucial strategic element is platform reuse. If the same machine can perform several operations during the crop cycle, utilisation increases substantially and the economics of agricultural robotics become more attractive.

Summary Table

Category	Highlights
Company	SAMI Robotics / SAMI Agtech
Founded	2023
Headquarters	Varennes, Québec, Canada
Key Executives	Pascal Labrecque, Éric Lapalme
Core Business	Agricultural robotics
First Commercial Application	Selective broccoli harvesting
Platform	Multifunctional field robot
Configuration	12–18 robotic arms
Harvesting Speed	Under 3 seconds per arm/head
Technology	AI, machine vision, robotics, data analytics
Future Crops	Lettuce, cauliflower, artichokes
Future Applications	Weeding, thinning, fertilisation, pest control
Primary Markets	Canada / United States
Competitive Position	Emerging specialty-crop robotics company

Bottom Line

SAMI Robotics is one of the more interesting emerging companies in specialty-crop automation because its ambition extends significantly beyond building a broccoli harvester.

The strategic concept is a multi-crop, multi-task robotic platform. Broccoli provides the first commercial application, but lettuce, cauliflower and artichokes are already part of the development roadmap, while weeding, thinning, fertilisation and pest control could eventually increase machine utilisation across the entire crop cycle.

The company has also crossed an important threshold: broccoli harvested by SAMI was commercially sold during the 2025 Québec season, while the 2026 California programme moves development into one of the world’s most demanding commercial vegetable-production environments.

The key question is now scalability rather than technical concept: whether SAMI can deliver sufficient reliability, throughput and economics to replace scarce harvesting labour at commercial scale.