Kubota’s KVPR is a “transformer” concept robot built around the idea that one electrified platform can cover many seasonal jobs that usually require multiple machines, while reducing manual hookup work and improving safety. The focus is on automation, AI-driven task guidance, connectivity, and a design that can flex between agriculture and light civil-engineering use cases without forcing operators to reconfigure hardware all day. https://www.kubota.com/
The core engineering trick is physical reconfiguration. KVPR uses a center frame with side frames that slide on the axle via hydraulic cylinders, letting it change ride height (ground clearance) and track width to match terrain, furrow geometry, or row spacing. It also adjusts longitudinal balance by shifting the battery pack fore/aft to manage center of gravity, aiming to replace bolt-on counterweights when swapping between implements with different moment loads.
Tooling is treated as part of the autonomy stack, not an afterthought. The robot can recommend an implement for a given job, then drive and align itself to connect automatically using camera guidance that locks onto a visual pattern on the attachment. This demo was shown at CES Las Vegas 2026, while development and testing is centered at Kubota’s Global Institute of Technology campus in Sakai, Japan, where the concept can be validated across test fields, courses, and around-the-clock automation workflows.
Mobility is equally “non-tractor-like”: four independent electric wheel motors allow per-wheel control of torque, steering angle, direction, and speed, enabling crab steering, diagonal translation, and tight pivot turns that help on irregular plots and confined work areas. To make robotic intent legible to people nearby, KVPR uses an external light-language (startup, ready states, transformation warnings, night monitoring) so operators and bystanders can quickly interpret what the machine is about to do.
Bigger picture, KVPR points toward a connected fleet model: one supervisor can oversee multiple units, with machine-to-machine coordination and the option to feed data into digital monitoring (sometimes framed as “digital twinning”) for persistent operational context. If Kubota can carry these ideas into production-grade reliability, the practical win is less idle equipment, fewer risky manual coupling steps, and more consistent motion control for repeatable field work—day or night—without turning the operator into a mechanic on every job ahead.
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