Weeding for humans is a time-taking and energy-consuming process. For more weeding in less time, Carbon Robotics has developed and revealed its third-generation autonomous weeder robot with abilities to weed 20 times more than what a human is capable of.
The process holds a significant place because wild weeds consume the nutrients from the soil essential for a crop’s optimum growth and hence hinder the max profitability.
The new autonomous robot for weeding identifies the unnecessarily grown plants and kills them using a powerful laser, and is as effective as killing 100,000 weeds per hour. Controlling the wild growth amongst the crop holds key importance for farmers because these wild weeds not only consume the nutrients from the soil but are also home to crop-destroying pests and insects.
Other alternatives to killing wild plants include using chemical herbicides and is the most used process of keeping a crop clean. However, it also contaminates the water and results in affecting the productivity of the soil. One other way that is common and is in practice is handpicking the weeds. While it doesn’t affect the soil’s health, it comes with a greater shortage of labor.
The agriculture industry holds key importance, as it grows what we eat but is somewhat a low-paying sector. That is why most laborers work in better-paying sectors, leaving agriculture with a shortage of workforce. This fact leaves the world with a requirement of developing more such autonomous tech to aid in the crops growing and keeping up processes.
On the other hand, the autonomous weeder is efficient. It kills weeds without harming the soil by using its powerful laser system, which identifies and then burns up the wild plants growing amongst the useful crop.
Algorithms are really making it easy for humans. The weed killer robot also uses a set of algorithms that enables it to work autonomously. The tools it uses to sense what to kill and what to spare include 12 cameras that scan the ground and a carbon dioxide-based laser deployed to burn the weeds. These tools, combined with the smartness of AI-based computers, make it efficient enough to kill 100,000 weeds per hour and cover an area of 15-20 acres per day.
Reading on these lines, a farmer would be curious to know its price. However, it isn’t good news in that particular sphere. The autonomous weed-killing robot comes with a hefty price tag that isn’t known yet, but its CEO gave out a spoiler saying it would cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”