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# Kubota and Kilter sign a support agreement for the AX-1, with Germany and the Netherlands leading
- URL: https://www.fieldcircuit.co.za/kubota-and-kilter-sign-a-support-agreement-for-the-ax-1-with-germany-and-the/
- Published: 2026-10-15T13:01:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T13:01:22.000Z
- Description: The agreement covers sales and support in Germany and the Netherlands, where the AX-1 is already commercially available; France and the UK are described as being considered.
- Author: Louwrens Erasmus

Kubota and the Norwegian robotics company Kilter have signed an agreement that expands sales and support for the AX-1 autonomous spot-spraying robot. The agreement was signed on 22 July by Kilter managing director Kristoffer Magnor and Kubota Holdings Europe president Shinichi Yamada. Futurefarming.com reports that it builds on an existing partnership between the two companies in Germany and the Netherlands, the two markets where the AX-1 is already commercially available.

## Where the expansion stands

The AX-1 is described as being considered for markets including France and the UK. If and when the AX-1 is offered in those countries, the deciding operational question for a prospective grower will be where the nearest participating dealer sits: a service point that can order and fit AX-1 parts in the country where the machine runs.

## What the two companies bring

Kilter spare parts are already stocked at Kubota's European Parts Centre in Thionville, France, and participating dealers can order AX-1 parts through the same system used for Kubota equipment. The load-bearing part of the arrangement, on my reading, is that parts and ordering tie-in: it threads AX-1 support into Kubota's European parts and dealer network, and for Kilter it means access to an established service infrastructure.

## What Kilter claims about the machine

According to Kilter, cameras and AI-based machine vision identify individual weeds, and the company's Single Drop Technology applies small droplets of herbicide directly onto the target. Kilter claims the approach can reduce herbicide use by up to 95% compared with conventional applications, depending on conditions and application. The company also says 66 AX-1 robots are currently in operation and that they have together avoided the use of more than one million litres of herbicide. These are Kilter's own figures, presented by the company as its own, not independently verified.

Kilter's claim rests on a plausible mechanism: spot application touches a fraction of the field surface that a broadcast sprayer treats, so the volume of active ingredient applied falls with the treated area. Efficacy of the reduced-volume application is a separate test: whether a smaller dose delivers the same weed control is a question for measurement, not for the volume-reduction figure alone.

## What to watch

Two things would move this from a support arrangement to a distribution story. The first is a named participating dealer in France or the UK. The second is a timetable for introduction into those markets. A third watch item is independent measurement of the herbicide-reduction claim by a party other than Kilter.