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CONTROLLING WEEDS
WITH
A ROBOT
The Autonomous Weeder uses AI and lasers to
identify, target and eliminate weeds
DIEGO FLAMMINI
FARMS.COM
A new piece of equipment is available for farmers to
control weeds without the use of herbicides.
Carbon Robotics out of Seattle, Wash. has developed
the Autonomous Weeder, which uses artificial
intelligence and laser technology to navigate crop
fields, identify, target and eliminate weeds.
“The robots are completely autonomous and drive up
and down the spaces between the rows,” Paul Mikesell,
founder and CEO of Carbon Robotics, told Farms.com.
“The computer vision system keeps the robot’s wheels
in the furrows. The computer system can also tell
what’s a crop and what’s a weed. Then it becomes a
matter of targeting the laser and destroying the weed.”
Using these robots can provide benefits including
increasing crop yield and quality and reducing
operating costs.
“When we do field days where one part of a field is
sprayed with herbicide and the other part is laser-
weeded, you can tell the quality and quantity of
the crops on the laser-weeded side is much better,”
Mikesell said.
The robots come equipped with eight
lasers capable of targeting weeds.
The machine can eliminate over 100,000
weeds per hour and can identify between
multiple different types of weeds, Mikesell said.
“We have a whole almanac we’ve been building
up and can identify around 50 types of weeds”
he said. “We gather imagery from around the world
and we take that information and run it back from
our AI system. We have a whole system set up for
categorization and classification.”
Some Autonomous Weeders are already deployed in
farm fields. James Johnson has been using the robot at
his Columbus, N.M. onion farm. He’s happy with how
the robot has performed.
“This is one of the most innovative and valuable
technologies that I’ve seen as a farmer,” he said. “I
expect the robots to go mainstream because of how
effectively they address some of farming’s most critical
issues, including the overuse of chemicals, process
efficiency and labor. These robots work with a variety
of crops, are autonomous and organic. The sky’s the
limit.”
Farmers interested in purchasing one of these robots
will have to wait. Models for 2021 are already sold out
but Carbon Robotics is taking pre-orders for 2022.
PHOTO: carbonrobotics.com
“THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE
AND VALUABLE TECHNOLOGIES THAT I’VE
SEEN AS A FARMER”
