Upside Robotics builds lightweight, solar-powered autonomous field robots that deliver right-sized doses of nutrients to corn plants across the season, rather than in one front-loaded pass. Proprietary algorithms combine live soil, weather and crop-stage data with satellite imagery, yield maps and SWAT maps to decide when and how much fertilizer each plant needs. The first product, the Maize Runner, is 22 inches wide to fit between standard 30-inch corn rows, carries a 50-litre tank that auto-refills at a base station, runs about ten hours per charge with a 60-minute recharge, and covers roughly an acre per hour. At 150 pounds it is designed to avoid the soil compaction caused by conventional heavy equipment. The company reports growth from 70 acres in 2024 to 1,200 acres in 2025.
Funding
Upside Robotics raised a $7.5 million seed round announced on 11 February 2026, led by Plural with participation from Garage Capital and the founders of Clearpath Robotics.