Butterhead lettuce has soft leaves and a mild, sweet flavor, and is an ordinary layer on a sandwich. What’s not so ordinary is how it is grown inside two vertical farms in Malaysia. And in the near future, the hands harvesting it will not be ordinary.

They will be connected to a humanoid robot.

On December 3, 2025, Agroz Inc., a Malaysia-based agricultural technology company, announced a collaboration with UBTECH Robotics, a China-based global leader in humanoid robotics, marking one of the most striking moments yet in agriculture’s evolution. The partnership brings UBTECH’s industrial humanoid robot, Walker S, into Agroz’s controlled-environment vertical farms, where it will seed, monitor and harvest crops such as green and red butterhead lettuce, kale, arugula, wild rocket and coral lettuces — foods humans have grown by hand for thousands of years.

The announcement signals something larger than a single deployment of robotics. That’s already been achieved in car manufacturing plants. It represents the convergence of two industries — farming and robotics — to rethink one of civilization’s oldest tasks.

Agroz describes itself as a fully vertically integrated agricultural technology company that designs, builds and operates indoor controlled-environment agriculture, or CEA, farms. Founded in 2020, the company runs pesticide-free vertical farms in Malaysia, including its EduFarm at AEON Mall Alpha Angle in Kuala Lumpur, recognized by the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest indoor vertical farm inside a shopping mall. 

Now, Agroz is pairing that controlled precision with humanoid robotics. The collaboration with UBTECH combines engineering innovation with real-time agricultural intelligence to create a fully integrated, automated CEA ecosystem within Agroz OS, the company’s proprietary farm operating system. 

Walker S will be the first robot introduced into Agroz’s controlled-environment farming facilities, and will perform key tasks such as seeding, monitoring, harvesting and crop optimization. The autonomous system is intended to boost productivity, reduce reliance on human labor and deliver more precise and consistent crop quality.

“Through Agroz Robotics, we hope to make sustainable agriculture a reality,” said Gerard Lim, chief executive officer of Agroz. “Our collaboration with UBTECH is a major milestone in our mission to redefine agriculture by using robots and artificial intelligence. This new collaboration enables us to combine cutting-edge humanoid robotics with data intelligence to build smart, self-optimizing farms to support the scalable production of cleaner, safer, and more sustainable food.”

Mr. Lim, who has nearly three decades of experience in the technology, media and telecommunications sector, sees automation as central to agriculture’s future. For Agroz, the challenge is not just producing food, but doing so reliably in the face of climate volatility, labor shortages and rising demand.

“We also thank the Malaysian government for cultivating an environment where such deep-tech solutions can thrive, directly strengthening our nation’s food security, sustainability, and economic resilience,” Mr. Lim said.

The Walker S robot stands 1.7 meters tall and is equipped with 41 servo joints, force feedback, advanced visual sensors and a large language model that enables planning, navigation and object manipulation. Designed for industrial environments, Walker S has already been deployed on automotive production lines, where it performs synchronized tasks alongside humans.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Agroz to apply our artificial intelligence and robotics technologies across a wider range of industries, contributing to the sustainable development of agriculture in Asia and around the world,” said Leon Li, general manager of UBTECH’s industrial robotics division.

The image of a humanoid robot harvesting leafy greens is striking, but it sits within a much longer arc of agricultural innovation. For most of human history, farming was done entirely by hand, guided by experience, weather patterns and physical endurance. Over time, tools multiplied — plows, irrigation systems and mechanized harvesters — each step reshaping how food was grown and who could grow it.

Today’s farms are layered with technology. Sensors monitor moisture and nutrients. Software models predict yields. Drones survey fields from above, while robots roam orchards and greenhouses at ground level. At Penn State University, researchers are developing AI-driven systems that can detect individual weeds in apple orchards and spray only what needs to be sprayed, reducing chemical use and environmental impact. In Georgia, researchers at the University of Georgia are testing AI-assisted systems that seed, cultivate, water and harvest crops using predictive analytics across hundreds of acres.

In vertical farms like Agroz’s, those tools converge in a controlled space. Crops grow in stacked layers under calibrated lighting. Water is recycled. There is no exposure to pests or extreme weather. Integrating humanoid robots adds another layer of precision, allowing farms to operate continuously while collecting data on every stage of plant growth.

Agroz envisions its operating system evolving into an AI-supported platform capable of presenting complex agricultural decisions to farm managers and autonomously executing them once approved. In that model, a humanoid robot harvesting butterhead lettuce is not a novelty, but a practical extension of a data-driven system designed for purpose.

For consumers, the change may go unnoticed. The lettuce will still be crisp. The flavor will still be mild. But behind it will be a fundamentally different process, one that blends ancient practice with advanced machines.

What began with bare hands and simple tools has become an ecosystem of algorithms, sensors and robots designed to work alongside humans. The act of growing food remains the same at its core, but the way it is done is changing.