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Despite the large diffusion of robotic and automated solutions that took place during the last decades in most production processes, the agricultural sector only marginally benefited from automated solutions (such as the control of climatic parameters in greenhouses). Robotic applications have been confined so far almost only to research studies with few particular and specific applications made available for farmers. This lack of advanced robotic solutions in agriculture and particularly in intensive farming cannot be motivated claiming a lack of interest for the latest results of technology and research in this sector. The use of latest results of genetics for the production of hybrid flower plants is one of the many examples that contradicts this kind of argument and shows how much the agricultural sector is keen to exploit the opportunities offered by modern technology and research. However, from the automation point of view, agriculture remains mainly labour intensive not only in those countries where manpower is relatively cheap, but also for those enterprises which enthusiastically embrace latest technologies in an effort to improve their competitiveness and to ensure top quality products. The motivation for the little development that robotic solutions deserved so far in the agricultural sector lies elsewhere. On one side it is related to some particularities of the specific sector, like the fact that farming is usually performed in an unstructured environment that is therefore less friendly for robotic solutions than a well structured industrial environment (Kassler, 2001). On the other side a consistent share of the research effort conducted so far, mainly tried to use standard industrial robotic solutions adapting them to the intensive farming sector instead of developing brand new solutions that exploit the specific features of the agricultural sector. Finally the focus of most research was so far on single specific activities or tasks and less frequently on the whole production process or on a consistent share of it. In our opinion the approach should be revised looking for new specific robotic solutions that take advantage of peculiarities and needs encountered in the agricultural sector that are different from those of the industry. In this context, beside overcoming specific constraints encountered in the farming context, the important challenge is to find solutions and develop technology to automatize consistent shares of the agricultural process. From a business point of view it is important to stress that, for the

Robotics for Improving Quality, Safety and Productivity in Intensive Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities