The Piccini Winery, a fifth-generation family-owned estate at home in the heart of Italian wine region Chianti Classico, is merging tradition with forward-thinking technology.
Under the leadership of CEO Mario Piccini, who joined his family's historic winery in 1982 on its centenary, the company has partnered with manufacturer Free Green Nature to introduce Icaro X4, a solar-powered robot for vineyard care.
When Piccini stepped into his leadership role, he recognized both opportunity and duty. "I felt a profound responsibility to safeguard the family legacy, a heritage built over five generations, while equipping our team to meet tomorrow's challenges," he explains.
Inspired by landmark research on AI and precision viticulture, which demonstrated how data-driven decisions can dramatically improve vine health and yield, the Piccini team viewed robotics not as an intrusion but as a powerful ally in preserving terroir.
The innovation behind Icaro X4
What makes this initiative remarkable is the sophisticated technology behind the robot. "Icaro X4 is essentially our 24/7 vineyard sentinel," Piccini describes.
Before deployment, each parcel is mapped with centimeter-by-centimeter precision, defining treatment plans that allow Icaro to work even without a satellite signal. The robot's foldable panels, mounted on electric-actuated wings, lower to within centimeters of grapevine leaves, emitting germicidal UV-C rays that disrupt fungal DNA and stimulate the vine's own defenses.
A hybrid powertrain enables Icaro to work up to 72 hours continuously, even during rain when downy mildew risk peaks. Additionally, environmental sensors feed real-time wind, humidity and solar irradiance data back to the base station, which boasts a predictive algorithm that determines exactly when and where Icaro should intervene.
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