The name Soter comes from the Greek word Sōtēr, meaning “saviour” or “one who rescues.” The idea for the name first emerged in 2022, when our earliest rover prototype was presented at a national technological innovation competition broadcast live on national television. During the event, the audience gave the prototype the nickname “Spasoje”, derived from the Serbian verb spasiti — to save. The project received second prize, and that moment shaped the identity of what would later become the Soter brand.
But the story of Soter did not begin on a stage. It began in a field.
Before founding the company, and still today, the founder manages a two-hectare lavender farm on the slopes of Fruška Gora, near Novi Sad, Serbia. Maintaining the plantation revealed a constant challenge: much of the terrain is sloped and uneven, making traditional agricultural machines — from two-wheel tractors to compact tractors and ride-on mowers — difficult, inefficient, and sometimes unsafe to use.
Out of that real and personal need, an idea began to take shape: to build a machine that could become a versatile, reliable partner for land maintenance — a kind of Swiss-army knife for working the land, capable of adapting to difficult terrain while simplifying demanding work.
The technical foundation for this journey came from earlier experience. In 2010, members of the team co-founded one of the first companies in Serbia dedicated to aerial mapping and video using multirotor and fixed-wing drones. Years spent working with robotics, remote systems, and field operations naturally evolved into a desire to build a new type of ground platform — one designed specifically for real-world agricultural and land-management challenges.
What followed was a long process of experimentation, persistence, and learning.
Over the years, the project went through ten major development iterations and countless smaller improvements. Behind the rover stand four years of ideas and industrial design, two years of detailed engineering, and thousands of hours spent cutting, welding, assembling, testing, and refining every component. The machine you see today represents the eighth major iteration — the product of lessons learned, mistakes corrected, and a constant determination to improve with every version.
From the very beginning, our ambition was not simply to build a prototype, but to create a scalable platform — a system that could one day be produced in larger numbers without sacrificing what matters most: precise chassis geometry, balanced weight distribution, reliability in demanding terrain, and full modularity.
In developing the rover, we brought together the best that modern technology offers in professional mowing systems, compact utility platforms, and electro-hybrid drive systems used in field robotics.
Yet technology alone does not tell the full story.
Soter is also the result of faith, friendship, and the dedication of a young team that truly believes in what it is building. Every prototype, every weld, and every long day in the workshop carries the same motivation: to create tools that make working with the land safer, easier, and more accessible.
Soter began as a necessity.
Today, it is becoming a platform built to serve the people who care for the land.
