The German agritech startup, eternal.ag, is introducing a de-risked and accelerated pathway for greenhouse growers to adopt harvesting robots. As structural labor shortages demand a faster transition to automated horticulture, growers will for the first time be able to replace their trolleys with a 'robot-ready' model which acts as a modular building block for a fully-autonomous robot.
Eternal.ag's Trolley is a high-performance crop work tool built for any greenhouse. Engineered with the same advanced mobility as eternal.ag's Harvester robot, it moves omni-directionally and navigates greenhouse rows effortlessly, without operators needing to dismount the trolley to perform complex maneuvers.
© eternal.ag
This design means that the Trolley can be later upgraded into a full Harvester robot by retrofitting the harvesting module and intelligence layer, turning it into a fully-autonomous system.
When growers are ready to upgrade, 100% of the Trolley's purchase price is converted into credit towards the cost of a Harvester. This upgradable model bridges the shift from manual to robotic operations, delivering immediate value while eliminating the risk of stranded capital as growers scale automation.
Up to 30% of the greenhouse workforce in Europe has left the industry and the labor shortage isn't easing. Growers are facing missed harvests, lower yields, and rising costs. Eternal.ag is building robots to meet this structural gap, making greenhouse operations predictable and consistent again.
© eternal.ag
Eternal.ag's co-founder and CEO Renji John said: "Fully-autonomous greenhouse robots are the only future-proof way to support growers to operate and scale successfully and to keep the global food system resilient, but the industry is at an early stage in the transition.The Trolley allows growers to start their automation journey today risk-free by investing in future-proof greenhouse equipment that will not depreciate or become obsolete."
Last month, eternal.ag launched Harvester, a fully-autonomous robot initially developed for harvesting tomatoes. Powered by AI, it harvests consistently for 22 hours per day and stop-gaps human labor shortages with high quality cutting and seamless integration into existing operations.
Renji continued: "Trolleys are a baseline investment for any greenhouse operation, so all growers need to buy them. The difference is that, with our Trolley, that same spend becomes a step towards automation in the future rather than a sunk cost. We've priced it in line with the market, so growers aren't taking on any additional risk to keep the robotics option open and future proof their investment."
© eternal.ag Renji John, CEO and co-founder of eternal.ag
The Trolley is available for purchase from 1 May 2026 with delivery available within six weeks.
For more information:
eternal.ag
eternal.ag
