John Teeple, John Deere’s Former Technology Director, Named COO; Computer Vision Pioneer and OpenCV Founder Gary Bradski Appointed CSO
New Bonsai Robotics leadership team aims to make autonomy and AI accessible, easy to use, and deployable across all farm equipment.
July 24, 2025 — San Jose, CA — Bonsai Robotics Inc. (“Bonsai”), a leader in vision-based autonomy software for agriculture, today announced its acquisition of farm-ng Inc., a pioneer in modular electric robots for farm management. This strategic combination brings together two of agtech’s most advanced and innovative companies with a shared vision to deliver powerful AI solutions that tackle the labor, cost, and efficiency challenges growers face today.
The integration of Bonsai’s high-performance autonomous AI technology with farm-ng’s customizable robotic platform allows for a revolutionary offering of AI-first machines that will transform crop management. This powerful combination of intelligent software and advanced robotic hardware enables cost-effective, mixed-fleet solutions that boost efficiency and reduce operational costs across diverse crops, tasks, and environments.
“To date, our vision has been to make autonomy and AI accessible, easy to use, and deployable across all farm equipment whether retrofitted onto existing tractors or built into the next generation machine,” said Tyler Niday, CEO and co-founder of Bonsai Robotics. “This acquisition allows us to now develop those next generation machines to augment and empower today’s workforce while optimizing farm productivity. We are shifting the industry from iron to intelligence.”
Strong Platform for Growth
Bonsai and farm-ng have a strong track record of collaboration across vineyards, orchards, and bedded crops, demonstrating proven field results and commercial momentum. This integration builds on that partnership and positions the combined company for rapid growth, supported by active commercial deployments and strong financial backing.
“From day one, both teams have been deeply aligned on making robotics and AI practical and seamless for real-world agricultural workflows,” said Brendan Dowdle, former CEO of farm-ng and now Chief Business Officer of the combined company. “By joining forces, we can move faster, helping growers adopt transformative tools that support their operations and improve their bottom line.”
Industry Leader in Agtech and Autonomy Expertise
The combined team and recent new hires bring deep expertise spanning agriculture, robotics, artificial intelligence, and engineering. Joining the Bonsai team in connection with the acquisition are Chief Operating Officer, John Teeple, former director of technology at John Deere, and Gary Bradski, a key figure in the evolution of computer vision and founder of OpenCV, as Chief Science Officer.
“We are excited to be able to bring together an industry leading team of engineers to address the very difficult task of integrating hardware, compute and perception necessary to accommodate the unpredictability of real-world farming,” said Ugur Oezdemir, co-founder and CTO of Bonsai. “With this acquisition we are able to develop a unified platform that is complementary to our OEM partners and capable of addressing the variability across form factors, crop types, and geographies to deliver effective and reliable autonomy in the field.”
Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. Existing shareholders of both companies will retain ownership stakes in the newly combined entity, Bonsai Robotics.
About Bonsai Robotics
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. Learn more at https://www.bonsairobotics.ai
About farm-ng
Based in Watsonville, California, farm-ng inc. is an agricultural robotics company supporting productivity and innovation in the field. Its flagship product – the Amiga – is a modular, electric, open-architecture robot designed to serve small- and mid-sized farms, research institutions, and developers. From crop care to data collection, farm-ng empowers the ag community to solve today’s challenges and build tomorrow’s solutions. Learn more at https://farm-ng.com/
Contact
AgTech PR for Bonsai Robotics
Jennifer Goldston
