Carbon Robotic, an American artificial intelligence agricultural machinery company, recently completed a $27 million Series B financing. Their automatic weeder uses artificial intelligence and laser modules to weed large farmland.
On a private farm in Ohio, USA, Shay Myers owns 30 acres (about 120 acres) of onion cultivation land. The family has been engaged in agricultural production for three generations and has experienced the development of agricultural mechanization in the United States for nearly a century.
Shay Myers used two 3-meter-long, 4-ton giants to weed his farm this year.
He chose the Autonomous Weeder (automatic weeder) produced by the American intelligent machinery company Carbon Robotic, which uses artificial intelligence and lasers to weed.
Carbon Robotics' autonomous weeders use automated machinery, artificial intelligence and laser technology to safely and efficiently traverse fields to identify, target and remove weeds.
Unlike other weeding technologies, robots use high-powered lasers to remove weeds through heat without damaging crops and soil. Automatic weeders allow farmers to use less harmful herbicides and save more labor.
The Autonomous Weeder has a 75-horsepower engine, four-wheel drive, a 280-liter fuel tank, and is equipped with an NVIDIA graphics card, front and rear cameras, LiDAR obstacle sensors, and laser modules. It can autonomously complete navigation, scanning, and laser weeding. set of processes.
navigation
It is emphasized on the company's official website that the automatic weeder can identify the range and furrows of farmland in the field based on GPS and machine vision, and accurately navigate the working route.
Previously, the machine was more suitable for comprehensive automatic weeding of large farmland of more than 200 acres (1200 acres).
scan
As the weeder drives through the furrow, 12 high-resolution cameras mounted on the underside of the vehicle mark which are crops and which are weeds by identifying the thermal energy in the weed meristem.
In the past two years, the development team has worked with farmers around the world to test the identification and weeding effect of crops such as onions and broccoli.
Laser weeding
After the Autonomous Weeder recognizes weeds, the lattice carbon dioxide laser module on the bottom of the vehicle can control the precision within 3mm, and can perform laser weeding on 8 targets at the same time.
The laser module supports firing every 50 milliseconds and can weed up to 100,000 plants per hour.
After Carbon Robotics launched the Autonomous Weeder (automatic weeder), it has received intentional orders and joint experiments on more than a dozen large farms in the United States.
Just last month, the company closed a $27 million Series B funding round and has sold out of the Autonomous Weeder at full capacity in 2021 and 2022, with more than $20 million in preorders.
AI Weed Killer vs Traditional Weed Killer
According to agency statistics, there are more than 200 herbicides approved by agricultural departments around the world.
Weeds are also increasing their resistance, and farmers are increasing the amount and frequency of herbicide applications, from 3-4 times a year to 5-6 times a year.
The use of herbicides does bring convenience to agricultural production, but it also causes serious and irreversible pollution to farmland, forest land, local water sources, and the atmospheric environment.
Herbicides have also caused great hidden dangers to the food safety of crops. All over the world, there are calls to stop the abuse of herbicides and advocate the consumption of organic agricultural products.
Although the Autonomous Weeder (automatic weeder) and other similar agricultural machinery are still in the development stage, they may not be suitable for farmland other than large farms, and the cost has yet to be estimated.
However, as the market controls the use of herbicides and pursues a healthy diet, the whole society will invest more research and development efforts and more cutting-edge technologies to continue to promote the development of agricultural AI and help to develop agricultural science and technology in a more sustainable and humane way.
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