LIVERMORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 11, 2025--
Topcon Agriculture, a global innovator in precision farming technologies, and Bonsai Robotics, a leader in vision-based autonomy for agriculture, today announced a joint initiative to advance agricultural automation for permanent crops. The collaboration will leverage Bonsai Robotics’ expertise in vision-based autonomous driving solutions and Topcon Agriculture’s industry-leading capabilities with sensors, connectivity, and smart implements to provide farmers unparalleled efficiency and productivity.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250211250474/en/
Combining robotics with precision agriculture expertise
The collaboration combines the strengths of Bonsai Robotics’ vision-based, autonomous navigation systems with Topcon Agriculture’s advanced autosteering, telematics and smart implement integration to create end-to-end solutions that address automating labor-intensive tasks, enabling data driving decision making, and providing high-precision harvesting technology in challenging environments.
“At Bonsai Robotics, we are revolutionizing orchard farming by automating some of the industry’s most challenging processes,” said Tyler Niday, CEO of Bonsai Robotics. “Joining forces with Topcon Agriculture allows us to integrate our AI-first approach to vision-based autonomy with their suite of precision sensors and smart implement controls, offering farmers seamless solutions that drive efficiency and sustainability.”
“Topcon Agriculture’s advanced autosteering systems, telematics, and implement controls are designed to empower farmers with cutting-edge technology and insights,” said Antonio Marzia, EVP and GM of Topcon Agriculture. “Teaming with Bonsai Robotics extends this capability to orchard farming, enabling us to globally deliver precision automation solutions that address critical pain points in orchard farming including labor shortages, resource inefficiency, and the need for sustainability.”
For more information on Topcon Agriculture, visit topconpositioning.com/solutions/agriculture. Information on Bonsai Robotics is available at bonsairobotics.ai.
About Topcon Positioning Systems
Topcon Positioning Systems is an industry-leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of precision measurement and workflow solutions for the global construction, geospatial and agriculture markets. Topcon Positioning Systems is headquartered in Livermore, California, U.S. ( topconpositioning.com, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram ). Its European head office is in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. Topcon Corporation (topcon.com), founded in 1932, is traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (7732). Topcon Agriculture: ( LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram )
About Bonsai Robotics Inc.
Bonsai Robotics Inc. is reimagining farming production systems with an AI-first approach to provide vision-based autonomous solutions for harsh environments. Based on patented AI models, a leading orchard data set and computer-vision software, Bonsai’s solutions integrate seamlessly to make OEM equipment operate autonomously. Bonsai technology can navigate in GNSS-denied environments, without a cellular or internet connection, making the highly affordable technology ideal for the toughest physical conditions where dust, darkness, debris, elevation changes and vibration may occur. bonsairobotics.ai.
Topcon Agriculture and Bonsai Robotics announced a joint initiative to advance agricultural automation for permanent crops. (Photo: Business Wire)
Uvira, CONGO (AP) — A climate of fear reigned Saturday in Uvira, a strategic city in eastern Congo, days after it fell to the Rwanda -backed M23 group, as fighting in the region escalated despite a U.S. mediated peace deal.
The Associated Press gained rare access to the city, which was the Congo government’s last major foothold in South Kivu province after the provincial capital of Bukavu fell to the rebels in February. Its capture allows the rebels to consolidate a broad corridor of influence across the east.
M23 said it took control of Uvira earlier this week, following a rapid offensive launched at the start of the month. Along with the more than 400 people killed, about 200,000 have been displaced, regional officials say.
On Saturday, the situation in Uvira still had not returned to normal. There was absolute silence and no traffic, apart from military jeeps circulating on the empty streets. The banks were closed and people have not resumed their jobs — only a few dared to go out during the day, and no one ventured outside after sunset, with armed M23 fighters patrolling the city.
“Some people left the city, but we stayed," Maria Esther, a 45-year-old mother of 10, told AP. “But the situation hasn’t returned to normal, we haven’t resumed our usual activities because there’s no money circulating.”
Joli Bulambo, another resident of Uvira, said: “People thought that the situation that had happened in Goma with the deaths would be the same here in Uvira, but fortunately, there were not many deaths because God helped."
The rebels’ latest offensive comes despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.
The United States accused Rwanda of violating the agreement by backing a deadly new rebel offensive in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, and warned that the Trump administration will take action against “spoilers” of the deal.
The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, it obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups like M23 and work to end hostilities.
Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, said on X on Saturday: “Rwanda’s actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords signed by President Trump, and the United States will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept.”
There was no immediate reaction from Rwanda.
The rebels’ advance pushed the conflict to the doorstep of neighboring Burundi, which has maintained troops in eastern Congo for years, heightening fears of a broader regional spillover.
More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees.
Local U.N. partners report that more than 200,000 people have been displaced across the province since Dec. 2. Civilians also have crossed into Burundi, and there have been reports of shells falling in the town of Rugombo, on the Burundian side of the border, raising concerns about the conflict spilling over into Burundian territory.
Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the U.N.
Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner on Friday accused Rwanda of trampling on the peace agreement, which she described as bringing “hope of a historic turning point.”
She warned, however, that the “entire process … is at stake,” and urged the Security Council to impose sanctions against military and political leaders responsible for the attacks, ban mineral exports from Rwanda and prohibit it from contributing troops to U.N. peacekeeping missions.
“Rwanda continues to benefit, especially financially but also in terms of reputation, from its status as a troop-contributing country to peacekeeping missions,” Wagner told AP.
Bertrand Bisimwa, deputy coordinator of the AFC/M23 rebel movement told AP in an exclusive interview Friday that peace commitments have remained largely theoretical. “Regardless of the ceasefire agreements we sign and the mutual commitments we make, nothing is implemented on the ground,” he said.
Asked about the expansion of M23 operations toward the Uvira region, Bisimwa said the region was a long-standing hot spot of ethnic tensions and violence. “For a long time, people were attacked and killed because of their community affiliation,” he said.
On Friday, Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told diplomats that Congo had declared it would continue fighting in M23 recaptured territories and it was only after M23 retaliated that the international community “suddenly woke up.”
“The DRC has openly declared that it would not observe any ceasefire and would instead continue fighting to recapture territories held by the AFC/M23, even as the peace process unfolded," he said.
While Rwanda denies the claim that it backs M23, it acknowledged last year that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo, allegedly to safeguard its security. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.
Associated Press writers Ruth Alonga in Goma, Congo, and Evelyne Musambi in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report.
Soldiers patrol as thousands of people fleeing fighting in Congo's South Kivu province arrive in Cibitoke, Kansega, Burundi, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Berthier Mugiraneza)
Internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing fighting in Congo's South Kivu province arrive in Cibitoke, Kansega, Burundi, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Berthier Mugiraneza)
Internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled fighting in Congo's South Kivu province prepare a meal in Cibitoke, Kansega, Burundi, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Berthier Mugiraneza)
Internally displaced people (IDPs) fleeing fighting in Congo's South Kivu province arrive in Cibitoke, Kansega, Burundi, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Berthier Mugiraneza)
FILE - Democratic Republic of the Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Departmentin Washington, June 27, 2025. (AP Pho to/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
