世界初のAIベース交配用ロボットを開発（Chinese Researchers Develop World’s First AI-Based Breeding Robot for Hybrid Pollination）

2025-08-12 中国科学院（CAS）

＜関連情報＞

• https://english.cas.cn/newsroom/cas_media/202508/t20250813_1050194.shtml
• https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)00840-2

作物の花形態の工学的な制御は、交配のロボット化と速成育種を可能にする Engineering crop flower morphology facilitates robotization of cross-pollination and speed breeding

Yue Xie ∙ Tinghao Zhang ∙ Minghao Yang ∙ … ∙ Jianhua Tao ∙ Hua Han ∙ Cao Xu
Cell  Published:August 11, 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.07.028

Graphical abstract

Highlights

• Editing ABC-model genes creates stigma-exserted male-sterile flowers in tomato and soybean
• AI-powered robots automate cross-pollination and streamline robotic hybrid breeding
• Integrating biotechnology with AI-based robots breaks bottlenecks of crop speed breeding
• The crop-robot co-design strategy offers solutions for sustainable precision agriculture

Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robots offer vast opportunities in shifting toward precision agriculture to enhance crop yields, reduce costs, and promote sustainable practices. However, many crop traits obstruct the application of AI-based robots. One bottleneck is flower morphology with recessed stigmas, which hinders emasculation and pollination during hybrid breeding. We developed a crop-robot co-design strategy in tomatoes by combining genome editing with artificial-intelligence-based robots (GEAIR). We generated male-sterile lines bearing flowers with exserted stigmas, and then trained a mobile robot to automatically recognize and cross-pollinate those stigmas. GEAIR enables automated F₁ hybrid breeding with efficiency comparable to manual pollination and facilitates the rapid breeding of stress-resilient and flavorful tomatoes when combined with de novo domestication under speed-breeding conditions. Multiplex gene editing in soybean recapitulated the male-sterile, exserted-stigma phenotype, potentially unlocking robotized hybrid breeding. We demonstrate the potential of GEAIR in boosting efficiency and lowering costs through automated, faster breeding of climate-resilient crops.