An agricultural robotics company, named Carbon Robotics, reportedly scaled up the operations of its updated “Laserweeder” farming robot, which was brought to light back in February of this year. It should be noted that this is more efficient and cost-effective as compared to the first version of this robot, which was commercialized back in 2021. However, the latest edition of this farming robot is capable enough to cut away 200,000 weeds per hour with the help of the embedded lasers on the back of the tractor. It should be noted that this is 100,000 times more than its previous version and can also control the production of weeds on a large scale.
Coupled with this, the new version also takes into account different farming problems regarding cutting off the weeds, which include spraying, hand weeding, and mechanical weeding. It consists of 30 industrial CO2 lasers with an 80% working efficiency in managing weeds. One of the most intriguing things to note is that the company has deployed the use of artificial intelligence into the farming robot as well, which works on the principle of thermal energy sensors that make it able to carefully target and then eliminate weeds. Not to mention, the break-even period with this machine is about 2 to 3 years.
In addition to this, Carbon Robotics CEO and Founder, Paul Mikesell, said, “We’ve proven the effectiveness of our laserweeding technology and the immense benefits it offers farmers, including healthier crops and soil, decreased herbicide use, and reduced chemical and labor costs”. He added, “To best serve farmers’ needs, we’ve adapted the design of our product, but will still leverage our proven laserweeding technology. Our mission has always been to provide farmers with the most effective tools, and the strong demand for LaserWeeders is evidence we’re helping them solve a serious problem.”
To that end, Jeff Morrison, who is the director of innovation & new technology at Grimmway Farms, said, “Grimmway Farms is dedicated to protecting natural resources and the environment while optimizing crop yield and soil health”. He further stated, “We are constantly improving our processes and evaluating new equipment to support our commitment to this mission. When we learned of Carbon Robotics’ laserweeding technology, we were eager to deploy it on our farms. This revolutionary approach to weeding has the potential to deliver precision, reliability, and cost-effectiveness in organic weeding that has not previously been available, making it an ideal solution to weed management.”
Similarly, Josh Roberts, who is the president and GM of Triangle Farms in Salinas, California, stated, “Securing farm labor continues to be increasingly challenging, so we are always looking for ways to automate our processes.” “The LaserWeeder automates one of the most demanding, costly, and time-intensive tasks on the farm: weeding. The implemented design is familiar and easy to integrate into daily operations while streamlining weed maintenance, providing the consistency that farmers value and rely on to support the growth of our businesses,” he added.