A smart agricultural machine burns weeds with lasers (2 photos + 1 video)
Category: IT technologies, PEGI 0+
Today, 13:22
Artificial intelligence automatically identifies weeds in real time and instantly destroys them with lasers. 
The LaserWeeder G2 machine can burn harmful plants with lasers. It sounds like science fiction, but the technology has already proven itself on hundreds of farms in 14 countries.
The device is up to 6 meters wide and is designed to be towed across fields behind a tractor. It contains 36 high-precision cameras that inspect crops, instantly identify harmful plants, and then burn them away using 24 laser diodes, each with a power of 240 watts. 24 Nvidia graphics chips handle the calculations.
According to the machine's developers, when used correctly, it can destroy up to 99% of weeds in a cultivated area—up to 10,000 plants every minute, or approximately 600,000 every hour—without the use of any chemicals. Moreover, its speed reaches 0.6 to 1.2 hectares per hour with an accuracy of less than one millimeter—more effectively than a team of 75 people.
This solution is much more interesting than traditional herbicides. Unlike chemicals, the robot doesn't leave any harmful residues, and plants can't develop resistance to laser beams. However, the machine is large and extremely expensive. The LaserWeeder G2 weighs approximately 3,300 kg, so towing it requires at least a 145-horsepower tractor or more.
