Canadian startup Sami Robotics, the first Western Growers-sponsored resident at Reservoir Farms, is bringing a new generation of multifunctional harvesting robots to California fields.
A few years ago, Sami Robotics Co-founder Eric Lapalme returned to his family farm where he grew up in Quebec. As an engineer, he had spent years developing technology and watching industries transform through automation. Yet as he walked the fields, he was struck by something familiar: the harvest crews were still doing the same work by hand that he had done as a teenager.
While robotics, artificial intelligence and automation were reshaping industries around the world, many specialty crop growers continued to face the same labor-intensive challenges they had decades earlier.
That moment became the spark behind Sami Robotics, a company that is now developing large-scale robotic harvesting systems designed specifically for fresh produce growers. And what began as a conversation between Lapalme and entrepreneur and robotics expert Pascal Labrecque has evolved into a rapidly growing agtech company with employees in Canada and California, pilot-scale commercial machines and a growing presence in the specialty crop industry.
Their goal is ambitious: create a multifunctional robotic platform capable of performing a variety of field tasks, with an initial focus on harvesting broccoli and lettuce, all through interchangeable tools and software applications. And after three years of development, that vision is beginning to take shape in the field.
Looking Beyond Labor Costs
When Labrecque first heard Lapalme’s idea, he was skeptical. A serial entrepreneur with a Ph.D. in robotics, Labrecque had previously built and sold successful medical imaging companies focused on artificial intelligence. From his perspective, replacing human labor with expensive robotic equipment did not initially appear to make economic sense.
“I thought people didn’t believe in the idea because you can’t replace low-cost labor with expensive robots,” Labrecque said.
But after speaking with growers across North America, he quickly realized he had misunderstood the problem. The issue was not simply labor cost; it was labor availability.
Growers consistently told him that finding enough workers at the right time had become one of the biggest challenges facing specialty crop production. In some cases, crops were not being harvested at their optimal timing because labor simply was not available when needed.
That insight fundamentally changed the company’s direction. Rather than viewing automation as a labor replacement strategy, Sami began designing technology that could help growers maintain reliable harvest operations.
“We realized it was bigger than the cost,” Labrecque said. “It was about access to labor.”
At the same time, advances in artificial intelligence, machine vision and robotics were making automation more practical than ever before, and the timing was right.
Why California Became Essential
From the beginning, Labrecque and Lapalme understood that developing agricultural robotics would require constant field testing and grower feedback. In Canada, the harvesting season is relatively short. For a startup trying to refine complex robotic systems, that presented a challenge.
“We needed to work with growers harvesting 12 months a year,” Labrecque said.
That search led the company to California’s Salinas Valley, the heart of North America’s leafy greens industry. There, Sami found both testing opportunities and collaborators.
Labrecque credits Western Growers’ Innovation team— including Walt Duflock, Senior Vice President of Innovation, and Ben Palone, Senior Director of Commercialization—for helping navigate the specialty crop industry and connect with growers. Those introductions opened doors to field trials and ongoing collaboration with companies, such as Taylor Farms, Church Brothers and Tanimura & Antle.
“Sami Robotics brings together Eric’s decades of experience designing equipment for agriculture with Pascal’s leadership in robotics and commercialization. This combination of agricultural insight and advanced engineering gives specialty crop growers a promising path toward practical, scalable harvest automation,” said Palone.
According to Labrecque, the feedback was invaluable.
“For growers, a machine’s performance is only part of the equation. It also needs to fit seamlessly into existing production systems. We created a user requirements list,” Labrecque said. “If we answer those needs, then we have a machine that works.”
These connections and the requirements list process helped Sami focus on realities that many technology startups overlook: sanitation requirements, transportation logistics, field operations, reliability and food safety.
Building a Robotic Workforce
At first glance, Sami’s machine resembles a large harvesting platform moving across a field. But underneath, it’s a complex network of cameras, artificial intelligence, robotics and machine vision. The system scans crops in real time and identifies harvest-ready produce based on grower-defined specifications.
For broccoli, growers can select preferred crown sizes and quality parameters. AI evaluates individual heads, identifying defects, such as flowering, disease symptoms or other quality concerns before determining whether a head should be harvested. The same approach is being adapted for romaine lettuce and other crops.
What makes the platform unique is its flexibility. Rather than building a robot designed for only one crop, Sami developed a multifunctional system capable of switching between tasks and crops through interchangeable tools, or what the company calls applications.
A grower harvesting broccoli in the morning could theoretically switch hardware and software configurations to harvest romaine later in the day. Future applications could include weeding, thinning and other field operations.
“The platform is like the tractor,” Labrecque said. “The grippers and tools are like the implements.”
The company hopes to create an open ecosystem where universities, researchers and other technology companies can develop specialized tools that operate on the SAMI platform.
While many agricultural robots focus on smaller-scale operations, Sami deliberately pursued a larger design, and according to Labrecque, the reason comes down to throughput.
Fresh produce moves on a tight timeline. Once harvested, crops need to reach cooling facilities quickly to preserve quality. A robot that harvests accurately but too slowly creates bottlenecks elsewhere in the supply chain.
“We have big fields and big production systems in North America,” Labrecque said.
To address that reality, Sami’s current commercial platform design features between 12 and 18 robotic arms operating simultaneously.
Depending on the application, each arm can perform work equivalent to approximately 1.8 field cutters. A 12-arm configuration can therefore perform work comparable to roughly 20 harvest workers, while larger configurations approach the equivalent of 30 workers, Labrecque explained.
The machine spans multiple rows at once and uses advanced camera systems to map the harvesting area in real time. Because the robots work collaboratively within a shared workspace, the system can operate in any type of bed configurations.
The company also designed the machine with practical field realities in mind. Its tracked undercarriage helps distribute weight and reduce soil compaction while maintaining maneuverability in field roads and challenging conditions.
Reliability Above All Else
If there is one word Labrecque returns to repeatedly, it’s reliability. For growers, a machine that occasionally works is not enough, he explained. Harvest crews often begin work before sunrise. Equipment must perform consistently throughout long days and changing field conditions.
“When you start at 3 a.m., it needs to work until 3 p.m. nonstop,” Labrecque said.
That focus reflects Labrecque’s background in medical technology, and Lapalme’s background in aeronautics, where safety, validation and rigorous testing are fundamental requirements. While agriculture presents a different operating environment, the underlying philosophy remains the same.
“We have spent significant effort ensuring that individual hardware, software and robotic systems function together as an integrated platform capable of enduring harsh field conditions,” he said.
As Sami continues expanding into additional crops, maintaining reliability while adding new capabilities will remain a central focus.
The Economics of Adoption
For agtech, return on investment remains a critical consideration. Sami established an early target, which is that growers should be able to recover their investment within two years or less.
According to the company’s modeling, replacing a 25-person harvesting crew can generate substantial labor savings depending on crop type and operating schedules. A harvesting crew can cost between $1.8 million and $2 million annually, Labrecque said.
Because the machines can potentially operate multiple shifts, some growers have suggested they could achieve even faster payback periods by maximizing machine utilization.
The company’s business model reflects feedback from larger growers who prefer ownership rather than robotics-as-a-service arrangements.
Looking Ahead
This summer marks a significant milestone for Sami Robotics. The company is officially entering the commercial market, offering its harvesting systems for sale while scaling manufacturing and support capabilities.
At the same time, Sami is expanding its presence within Western Growers’ Reservoir Farms innovation ecosystem, where the company will continue testing and demonstrating its technology alongside growers and industry partners.
For Labrecque, the long-term vision extends beyond selling machines. He sees a future where intelligent robotic systems become essential infrastructure supporting food production, helping growers overcome labor shortages while strengthening food security.
Over the next five years, the company hopes to scale production, introduce multiple machine configurations and deploy more than 150 units throughout California, Arizona and beyond.
For an idea that began with one farmer’s observation that harvest crews were still working the same way they had decades ago, the progress has been impressive. And if Sami’s founders are successful, the next generation of farmworkers may include not only people, but also fleets of intelligent robotic partners working alongside them to keep fresh produce moving from field to table.