Farm-bot wastes weeds
Engineers have created a farming robot that uses lasers to kill 100,000 weeds per hour.
US-based drone firm Carbon Robotics has unveiled new autonomous weed elimination robots.
It uses advanced AI and laser technology to safely and effectively drive through crop fields to identify, target and eliminate weeds.
The farm drone allows farmers to use less herbicides and reduce labor to remove unwanted plants while improving the reliability and predictability of costs, crop yield and more.
The technology is designed for row crops from 200 acres to tens of thousands of acres.
A single robot will weed 15-20 acres per day and replace several deployments of hand weeding crews.
As it drives itself down rows of crops, it uses an array of 12 cameras to scan the ground. Its onboard computer can identify weeds and use carbon dioxide lasers to zap and kill the unwanted plants.
The robots have undergone beta testing on specialty crops farms, working on fields with a variety of crops, including broccoli and onions.