We develop autonomous soil sampling equipment for agricultural and environmental research.
Excelsior Applied Systems LLC is an engineering company in Troy, New York. Our first system, OSIRIS, collects soil cores from an unmanned ground vehicle, seals each core in its own tube, and records the location, depth, and time of every sample. The core handling subsystem has been bench tested, the coring control is in simulation, and we are preparing federal research proposals toward field trials in 2027.
What we do
Sampling equipment
We design ground robots that collect physical soil cores at a set depth, seal each core, and record where, how deep, and when it was taken.
Research partnerships
We work with university researchers on the robotics and the field science, and we take the small business role in federal research programs.
Field evaluation
We are looking for research stations, laboratories, and sampling programs that would host a field trial or evaluate the system when it is ready.
The gap we are working on
Commercial sampling robots composite many cores into one bag per grid cell or zone. That is the right method for fertility mapping, and it is well served.
Research plots, contaminant investigations, and carbon measurement often need something different. Each core intact, sealed in its own tube, with a record of where and how deep it was taken and who handled it. Today that work is done by hand crews with liners and caps.
OSIRIS is meant to do that step with no operator at the sampling point. To be worth adopting it has to beat a two person crew on cost, throughput, and the audit trail, and that is the standard we hold it to.
OSIRIS
OSIRIS stands for Onboard Soil In-situ Robot-assisted Intelligent System. It mounts on an unmanned ground vehicle, cores at a controlled depth, moves each core into an indexed onboard carousel, and ties every core to its location, depth, and time. No operator handles samples between points.
What it is designed to do
- Sequence the core exchange and indexed storage with safety interlocks.
- Adapt the coring force to changing soil resistance instead of stalling in it.
- Seal each core in its own tube for sampling where contamination matters.
- Tie every core to a mission record for the laboratory.
We designed the system for research stations, soil testing laboratories, and environmental sampling programs that need dense, traceable physical cores and a clear chain of custody.
Where it stands
- Core handling subsystemBuilt and bench tested with our university partner. A measured cycle of 2 minutes 9 seconds per core and positional error under 0.5 millimeters across all actuators, as reported at the 2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting.
- Coring controlIn simulation. A conventional controller stalls in most of the soil conditions we model, and the adaptive design is being evaluated against it.
- Field systemNot yet built. Integration on a ground vehicle and field trials are planned for 2027, subject to funding.
- Design target30 to 50 cores per run.
Publications
Bae, J. H., Lancia, J., Gonzalez, R., Madhi, M., Tozzi, M., Muthukumaran, B., Wat, K., Park, G., & Sun, L. (in press). An autonomous robot-assisted system for high-resolution in-situ soil sampling in agricultural fields (Paper No. IMECE2026-192950). In Proceedings of the ASME 2026 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November 8 to 12, 2026. American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Bae, J. H., Lancia, J., Mathison, S., Gonzalez, R. M., & Park, G. (2026). Introduction to OSIRIS - Onboard Soil In-situ Robot-assisted Intelligent System. ASABE Paper No. 2600735. 2026 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Indianapolis, Indiana, July 12 to 15, 2026. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan. https://doi.org/10.13031/aim.202600735
About the company
Excelsior Applied Systems LLC develops autonomous equipment for agricultural and environmental research. OSIRIS is our first system, and we are carrying it from bench tests and simulation toward equipment that research programs and laboratories can run in the field.
Our team combines field robotics research with systems engineering. The research side has built an uncrewed sediment sampling system and developed navigation and path planning for environmental monitoring robots. The engineering side designs equipment to run reliably outdoors through a full sampling season.
We put every arrangement in writing, we reply to every inquiry within two business days, and when something is outside what we do, we say so plainly.
- CompanyExcelsior Applied Systems LLC
- Formed2026
- LocationTroy, New York
- RegistrationSystem for Award Management, SAM.gov
- UEISD1YF2K4P1V3
- CAGE20R18
- NAICS541715 primary, 541330, 541512
- AffiliationIncubated Maker Program, Tech Valley Center of Gravity
Contact us
We would like to hear from research stations, laboratories, sampling programs, and program officers with an interest in autonomous soil sampling. Tell us what you sample, how deep, and what record each sample needs. We reply within two business days.
info@excelsiorapplied.com