Last cut: Can robots save oil palm in Malaysia?

It dawned in Malaysia in 2035.In the middle of the foggy palm trees, a local worker and his human robot “Madani-007” are harvesting smoothly — one clean pick, effortlessly. Robotic dogs collect clusters and falling fruits, trailers go up, and data flows to the supervisor's tablet. Sweat meets electrical circuits; soil meets steel. It's not a fantasy — it's just tomorrow, waiting for Malaysia to take action.

But somewhere in Hangzhou, a human robot called Unitri G1 has just slipped into what its engineers brazenly call anti-gravity mode — and it's kicking, literally. The sight of a machine that ignores brutal blows as if it were an electronic kung fu teacher made its creators cheer and marvel in equal measure. Nearby, Ahead Form is creating human heads that are so eerily realistic that they could star in a sci-fi remake of “Ip Man.”

Fourier Intelligence N1 doesn't just walk — it jumps, turns and takes kung fu moves to reach the Robotics Hall of Fame. “Clone Robotics” from Poland is building artificial muscles that contract and relax as if they are real, while “Skeld for Artificial Intelligence” from the United States tests robotic dogs by throwing saws in their path — not as weapons, but as tests of adaptive intelligence.

As we browse these wonders scattered on our phones, China has quietly deployed more than two million robots in its factories, farms, and logistics centers — adding another 300,000 robots in the past year alone, more than the rest of the world combined. These robots assemble trucks in minutes, move in synchronized groups, and increase production with amazing accuracy. This is no longer science fiction; it is an era of robotic renaissance unfolding before our eyes.

Meet the hands of the new fields

At the forefront of this revolution is Unitri Robotics, whose 4-legged “robotic dogs” and agile human robots have become a global phenomenon. Its human robot “R1”, launched at a price of just $5,900, is a small but massive object, powered by a multi-modal artificial intelligence that recognizes faces, sounds, and commands. Just a few days ago, Unitree revealed its next achievement: the human athlete “H2” who walks, runs and even dances with alarming agility. It is no longer confined to laboratories, but enters production halls and, God willing, soon to the fields.

It is no wonder that “Time” magazine has named “R1” as one of the best inventions of 2025, with its founder Wang Xing among the top 100 influential figures in the field of artificial intelligence, and the company itself in the “Time 100” list of the most influential companies. And no — this isn't a commercial, it's my admission that there are a lot of late night YouTube marathons. Unitri and its counterparts simply embody what happens when efficiency meets speed and tenacious determination.

Now imagine this creativity harnessed in our farms: robotic dogs navigating the peat soil of Sarawak, self-driving trucks transporting fruit clusters across Sabah's undulating farms, and human robots helping harvesters under a tropical sun. Is this out of reach? It is no longer the case. The technology is there; the question is whether we will absorb it — before it absorbs someone else's market.

Why China? Because China is a robot

While many countries — including Malaysia — are still producing feasibility studies that do not exceed the level of technical readiness for deployment. China is already publishing, expanding, and exporting. It's not just manufacturing robots; China is robotics — on a large scale, quickly, and at a price that doesn't inspire fear anymore. Millions of industrial and service robots operate in its economy. It is a country that is building the future while others are still comparing it, an open laboratory where bold ideas are built, tested, improved, and shipped around the world.

Meanwhile in Malaysia

To be fair, Malaysia has not stood idly by. The Oil Palm Mechanization and Automation Research Federation, Malaysian Palm Oil Authority scientists, and many innovators in the private sector and farms have supported drones, cutters, and even exoskeletons. But progress has been cautious — steady enough to confirm commitment, not enough to change the scales. Many ideas are still locked in conference rooms and PowerPoint presentations. As we form committees, humanoid robots learn to walk. As we “explore options,” robotic dogs accelerate upwards.

Harvesting still consumes more than half of our farm labor. Palm trees grow taller, terrain becomes more difficult, and employment diminishes. Prices may rise and offer some comfort, but short-term comfort generates long-term self-satisfaction — like patching a leaky boat with scraps and praying for calm seas.

An algorithm for oil palm

Today's robots can lift tons in warehouses. If robotic dogs can climb among debris in Sichuan or Fukushima, they can certainly handle the mud of Malaysian soil. But the real challenge is not lifting — it is pulling out fresh fruit clusters with graceful pendulum strokes, raising productivity, and bringing an entire industry out of deadlock. The key isn't just mechanical — it's algorithmic.

What we need now is not stronger arms, but smarter minds — algorithms that can see, feel and decide amid the chaos of palm leaves and thorns. It's time to accelerate partnerships with technologists who have already deciphered balance, vision, and movement, and work with them to develop oil palm algorithms: harvesting, handling.

The obstacle is not the terrain either; it is the mentality. Too often, we treat tropical humidity as an excuse rather than an engineering opportunity. Mechanization is not about replacing workers; it is about redefining work. It's about making it safer, smarter, and more dignified. The next generation won't line up for demanding jobs, but they may if those roles involve machine management, data analysis, and integrating human judgment with robotic accuracy.

From feasibility papers to field pilot projects

What Malaysia needs is not another brilliant report; it is a leap of faith through partnership. China already has a “3B” — prototypes, patents, and persistence. We have the land, the agriculture, and the heritage of farm management. No need to start from scratch when others have already built the launch pad.

This is not a call to abandon local creativity, but rather a call to accelerate it through international cooperation. We must cooperate with global leaders, not as vendors but as partners. Real cooperation means pilot projects, no commemorative plaques; joint projects, no polite memoranda of understanding. The goal is not novelty; it is necessity.

Mechanization or annihilation - the case of courage and copying intelligently

I've attended more automation meetings than I can count — each one promising great progress. In the meantime, trees are outpacing our tools, workers are getting older, and many “new” innovations seem highly suspicious of their predecessors from the 1980s. The pace of progress is very slow compared to the magnitude of our challenge.

Short-term price cycles and expatriate labor are no longer able to hide structural weakness. Mechanization is no longer research — it's survival. Malaysia once learned from the British and got through the colonial classroom. There's no shame in learning now from China, whose relentless pursuit has made it a global robotics powerhouse. The point is not to blindly imitate, but to adapt intelligently.

There is wisdom in quoting excellence. We can copy smartly, and localize proudly. This isn't a tradition; it's evolution — the same instinct that turned farmers into pioneers a century ago.

From exhibition halls to farms

Every year, Malaysia showcases great technologies - drones, sensors, cutters - and yet few innovations are passed from the exhibition hall to the farm on a large scale or in the long term. The technology is admired, but not adopted.

Let's reverse it. Let's fund realistic pilot projects where human robots and robotic dogs work alongside human oil palm harvesters. Let's invite our partners to our fields - not to take selfies, but to search for solutions.

Technology is not the enemy of employment; it is the empowerment of dignity. Mechanization transforms fieldwork from menial work to meaningful work, allowing those who have been bending their backs under the sun to train, supervise, and lead instead.

Rethinking Mechanization as a National Policy

With 5.6 million hectares of oil palm and an industry worth over 100 billion Malaysian ringgit, mechanization cannot remain a side agenda. It should be a national strategy. We need an interministerial task force that includes farmers, engineers, financiers, and policy makers — one that thinks not about election cycles but about 10 to 50 year perspectives.

Mechanization directed towards oil palm should be included in the digital economy scheme, along with robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics. Because while we're drafting and discussing, others are posting.

Every year of delay costs us in yield, manpower, and importance. Manual adoption increases costs, slows production, and discourages young people. The tragedy isn't that we can't keep up — it's that we were once pioneers. Malaysia was once the benchmark in breeding, agriculture, and farm research and development. Mechanization should now be our next big jump, ensuring that we remain not just a producer, but a leader.

From shows to working robots

To my fellow stakeholders in the oil palm industry: stand longer, think more boldly, and communicate with the best. Get involved with the pioneers who are shaping agricultural robots — don't waste another decade reinventing the wheel when others get ahead.

The goal is clear: durable, field-tested, cost-effective robots with real after-sales support — not million-ringgit prototypes with a million excuses.

If some farm groups are already in talks with innovators, let those seeds bear fruit. But secrecy should make way for joint national progress.

Enough of the half-finished memoranda of understanding - maybe it's time for real diplomacy between governments and real mechanization. Because if we don't start soon, others will already be harvesting while we're still talking about prototypes.

From roots to robots

The oil palm industry has never lacked creativity — just urgency. For decades, we've been growing horizontally, not vertically. It's time to get up, reconnect, switch to robots.

The future doesn't wait. It's already walking on four legs, scanning terrain using laser technology to detect range, and human robots are learning faster than we can legislate.

The robots are coming. The only question is whether it will work for us or instead of us. Mechanization is not about losing jobs; it's about raising the level of jobs. The next generation of farmers must be programmers, controllers and environmentalists.

This is not a cause for panic - it is realistic, carefully said, no criticism. It is a tough love for an industry I cherish, an industry that has fed families, built communities and preserved a nation.

And yes, some may get angry, but we must rise above pride and protocol. The farm sector is too vital, too intertwined with our livelihoods, to be held hostage to inertia or ego.

The next chapter in the story of the oil palm in Malaysia will not be written in “parang” and memoirs, but by robots that can harvest, transport and sing “Malaysia Polly”.

The technology is ready. Our choice is simple: exploit it in partnership — or watch others harvest the future we once led.

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Source: The Star