[Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder killing weeds on a farm]
[Tractor pulling the LaserWeeder]
[Lasers killing weeds]
Brian Ballard (interview): “So this would be the G2 LaserWeeder from Carbon Robotics. We have four modules here with two lasers on each module, killing weeds while driving through fields. Predict camera out here, two targeting cameras as well as the lasers in the back end, and then the LED lights around there, so we can run 24 hours a day. And then inside each module, which is here, is two Nvidia GPUs.”
[Brian Ballard showing the parts of the LaserWeeder]
[Tractor pulling the LaserWeeder]
[Man with an iPad in the tractor monitoring the LaserWeeder cameras and targeting data]
[LaserWeeder killing weeds]
[LaserWeeder showing Starlink satellite terminal]
Brian Ballard (interview): “We have over 250 out in the fields and what it is doing is killing weeds right when they emerge, seven to 10 days after planting. That is cilantro. And then you can see right here that tiny little that was a weed, that was a weed, you can barely even see that, that was a weed, all at their seedling stages. So in our large plant model, we have over 150 million plants already labeled so that when those cameras and the NVIDIA GPUs see a crop or a weed, it pulls from that database to decide if it has to shoot it or not.”
[Brian Ballard showing where weed seedlings were destroyed]
[Tractor with the LaserWeeder]
Thierry Besançon (interview): “We have been running the LaserWeeder in some experimentation here in comparison with traditional herbicide application. And we realized that this kind of equipment is as effective as traditional herbicides. And in addition, we realized that some of these traditional herbicides are still hurting the crop. You can still have crop stunting, less biomass production for this crop when you use an herbicide. And it’s something that you don’t see when you use a LaserWeeder. We did experimentation in spinach and peas and we have up to 30% yield increase where we use a LaserWeeder. Why? Because we didn’t have any herbicides that could potentially be damaging to the crop.”
[LaserWeeder killing weeds]
Thierry Besançon (interview): “One of the problems that we are facing these days is that our labor force is aging, our labor force is less available because of restriction or immigration restriction, which is something which is impacting us, impacting the agricultural industry. And also because, yes, I mean, it’s not really fun to be rowing all day long weeds in the field. So is that something which is changing. And that’s something that can also speed up the adoption process of this kind of technology for the growers.”
This script was provided by The Associated Press.