When laser beams meet weeds
Weed control in fields has always been labour-intensive, expensive or involved the use of chemicals. The Laserweeder from Carbon Robotics uses AI and lasers – and is more precise than other methods.
Christian Janse from Carbon Robotics presents the Laserweeder, which uses AI to destroy weeds in the field precisely and efficiently.
At temperatures above 65 degrees Celsius, virtually every unwanted weed in the field is threatened with death. Four years ago, the US company Carbon Robotics launched its Laserweeder and has since "destroyed billions and billions of weeds with lasers," as Christian Janse, Regional Sales Manager in Europe, explained on the Farming Forward Stage at FRUIT LOGISTICA 2026.
A shot to the heart of weed growth
The Laserweeder is a machine between two and six metres wide – depending on the farm's needs – that is attached to the back of a tractor. An employee slowly drives it over the rocket, spinach, onion or any other field. Cameras scan the ground, an AI system immediately evaluates which plants are stretching their leaves out of the soil – and fires a laser beam at all unwanted weeds. The laser hits the heart of the harmful plants at a temperature of at least 65 degrees Celsius, destroying their cells so that they can no longer grow.
If a weed is already well developed, or in the event of moisture or rain, the beam remains on the plant for a few milliseconds longer. However, adverse weather conditions cannot stop the machine, says Christan Janse: "Lasers can shoot with millimetre precision; neither wind, fog nor rain interfere with the process – because it is light particles that generate the heat." The system only fails to work through a blanket of snow.
Space for crops
The laser weeder thus solves a whole series of dilemmas that have made weed control difficult up to now: it does not require a large workforce to pull weeds by hand, nor does it require mechanical methods that are not necessarily ideal for the soil and the crops themselves, nor does it require herbicides that can cause resistance or damage the harvest. "We have tried various methods – but nothing is as precise as the laser," emphasises Janse.
The Laserweeder also increases crop yields: no matter how close the weeds grow to the crop, the laser beam can remove them without damaging the crop, according to Janse. For the crop, this means that its direct competitor for nutrients and water is eliminated.
Since its market launch, Carbon Robotics has sold more than 250 Laserweeders. On average, the machines destroy 99 per cent of the weeds in the field, so that hardly any manual reworking is necessary, said Janse. Farmers could therefore save around 80 per cent of their annual weed control costs.