Role of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Floriculture: A Review

Abstract

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics in floriculture is transforming traditional flower cultivation into a technologically advanced and efficient practice. As the floriculture industry expands globally, it faces numerous challenges such as labor shortages, inconsistent quality, post-harvest losses, and environmental vulnerabilities. This review explores the role of AI and robotics in addressing these challenges by enabling precision agriculture, automating labor-intensive tasks, and enhancing decision-making. AI applications in floriculture include crop health monitoring, climate control in greenhouses, yield prediction, and market forecasting. Robotics complements AI through automated planting, harvesting, grading, and packaging—ensuring delicate flower handling with precision and consistency. The article also highlights the emergence of smart floriculture systems that integrate AI-robotics solutions for end-to-end automation. Although high initial costs, skill gaps, and infrastructure limitations present challenges, growing government support, startup innovation, and collaborative research offer promising opportunities. This paper presents global case studies and discusses future trends including urban vertical farming, blockchain traceability, and workforce transitions. India is the second largest flower-growing country after China and is at 14th position in exporting floriculture products. However, India’s percentage share in global floriculture exports is only 0.40% in 2018 which might be due to lacunae in maintaining international quality standards, lack of integrated cold chain management and unorganized market and distribution channels. With responsible implementation, AI and robotics have the potential to make floriculture more productive, climate-resilient, and economically inclusive.