Burro Grande 44 Named One of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026

Recognition honors Burro’s latest autonomous work platform, joining more than 800 Burro robots operating across 17 countries — the physical AI coworker science fiction long imagined

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Burro, the physical AI company building autonomous robots that work alongside people, today announced that Grande 44, its most powerful autonomous work platform, has been named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2026 in the Agriculture category. Burro Grande 44 is the physical AI coworker of the 21st century, the kind of robot sidekick science fiction has long pictured, now at work in the real world.

Each year, TIME’s editors identify 300 inventions that are helping shape the future across technology, science, consumer products and other areas of innovation. The recognition places Grande 44 alongside innovations selected for their originality, impact, efficacy and ability to change the way people live and work.

Recognition for Real-World Innovation

For Burro, the recognition is notable because of the stature of the TIME Best Inventions list, and because Grande 44 is Burro’s 6th and newest model in the portfolio, built on years of real-world operation. All Burro models are autonomous mobile robots that Burro has developed and made commercially available since the founding of Burro in 2017.

More than 800 Burro robots are currently operating across 17 countries, logging more than one million hours running autonomously in vineyards, nurseries, orchards, depot yards and industrial sites. With more than 140 years of autonomous driving behind them, these robots are laying the foundation for the autonomous future of work outdoors. Grande 44 builds on that commercial experience to bring greater towing capacity, payload and power to environments where traditional automation can be difficult or expensive to deploy.

Unlike a concept or prototype, Grande 44 is part of a commercially deployed robotics platform designed to go to work in real-world environments that is deployed without infrastructure changes to a customer’s facility.

“Our customers are proving the value of our robots every day, in the mud, the heat and the dust, doing the parts of the jobs that people don’t want to be or shouldn’t be doing,” said Charlie Andersen, CEO of Burro. “Grande 44 is built on eight years of putting our other autonomous models to work in the real world and learning from that experience. Being named as one of TIME’s Best Inventions for 2026 is an important milestone for our team and for every customer who has trusted a Burro with real work. It is also recognition of what becomes possible when autonomous technology moves from the lab into the environments where people actually work.”

Built for Heavy-Duty Autonomous Work

Grande 44 is designed for towing, transportation and vegetation management, with up to 6,000 lbs. of towing capacity, up to 1,500 lbs. of payload capacity, 44 HP of peak power and up to 40 kWh of battery capacity.

Burro can tow, transport, mow, spray and patrol, working with Burro’s Cortador brush cutter, Sprayito spot sprayer and Autonomous Charging Dock. It is proven to operate autonomously on slopes, uneven terrain, indoor-outdoor transitions and challenging weather conditions.

Grande 44’s autonomy capabilities build on data and experience gathered from Burro’s commercial fleet. The platform is designed for infrastructure-free deployment, allowing customers to introduce autonomous mobility without major changes to existing facilities and workflows.

About Burro

Burro builds autonomous outdoor robots that work alongside people, not instead of them. The company’s platform, the Swiss Army knife of outdoor automation, supports towing, hauling, mowing, spraying, scouting, and patrolling across a single vehicle without infrastructure changes. With more than 800 robots in the field across 17 countries and more than one million autonomous hours logged, Burro is one of the only outdoor robotics companies to have achieved commercial scale. Customers include leading specialty crop producers, nursery operators, and industrial companies across North America, South America, and Australia. Burro is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Learn more at burro.ai.

Media Contact:
Ben Hohmann
Ben@hhcomms.com