What just happened? Nvidia has partnered with Carbon Robotics to tackle one of agriculture's peskiest problems: weeds. Putting their minds together, the two created the LaserWeeder G2 – a 20-foot-wide machine powered by two dozen Nvidia GPUs.
Designed to be towed in fields behind a tractor, the contraption uses raw compute power mated to 36 high-resolution cameras to identify and incinerate weeds on contact using 24 240W diode lasers. It may sound like science fiction, but it's already proven itself on hundreds of farms. According to Carbon, they have shipped more than 150 units to farmers in 14 countries since 2018.
The latest iteration is able to identify and zap up to 10,000 weeds per minute, (about 167 per second, or 600,000 weeds an hour) – all without the use of harmful chemicals.
It sounds incredibly efficiently although I will be the first to admit that I have no idea how many weeds can be found in an average acre of farmland. According to Carbon, customers can expect to cover 1.5 to 3.0 acres an hour, and the machine can outperform a hand crew of 75 people with sub-millimeter accuracy. Used correctly, it is rated to kill up to 99 percent of weeds.
Switching from herbicides to lasers has more advantages than you might think. Aside from being safer, weeds can not build resistance to lasers like they can with traditional herbicides.
As mentioned, this is no small machine. The contraption weighs 7,200 pounds and requires a tractor with at least 145 horsepower to tow. It comes backed by a one-year warranty with 24/7 software and remote support. Extended service and support plans are available, presumably for an additional fee.
Carbon is also working on another agricultural pain point – labor shortages. Data shows that more than 25 percent of edible crops in the US go unharvested due to labor gaps. The company's AutoTractor, an autonomous retrofit for existing farm equipment, allows machines to run around the clock and can be monitored remotely.