In the near future, a new generation of robots powered by artificial intelligence will take aim at weeds — and not just with chemicals. Laser weeding technology has become so precise that some can explode plants down to their roots and slice insects in half mid-flight.
Make no mistake, much of this technology is still in development. But it has an unlikely champion in Washington with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
He recently touted laser weeders in an interview on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Today’s modern laser weeder technology “kills the weeds at every stage of their life. It identifies their species and kills them instantly, all the way down to their roots by exploding them with this laser,” Kennedy said.
Futuristic crop management laser technology — which is championed stateside by tech companies like Carbon Robotics with its cutting-edge LaserWeeder G2 implement — relies on artificial intelligence to find and destroy weeds via lasers while traveling across farm fields. Similar chemical-free weeding machines are now moving out of their startup phase and into farm fields around the world.
While U.S. farmers might occasionally glimpse these machines at field day events, many were on display at 2025 Agritechnica in Hannover, Germany. There, German startup Nature Robots showcased many kinds of mechanical, electric and laser weeding robots.
“The robot itself has four wheels, and they all can be controlled individually in different directions; it’s omnidirectional,” said Sven Lake, general manager at Nature Robots during the European trade show. “It’s fully electric, and we also have a solar panel.”
Agriculture is getting a boost from adjacent industries, too, as engineers apply their advancements to farm fields. Hendrik Sandmann, a researcher with the Laser Center of Hannover, demonstrated a European-funded prototype that uses industrial lasers designed for thick metal welding to zap targets as small as insects. While development is ongoing, weeding trials have been completed in Spain, Denmark and Netherlands.
Betting on tech
One shortcoming of these powerful laser-equipped robots, which burn weeds and insects, is that they need substantial energy from high-capacity batteries. Liechtenstein-based Pantec Biosolutions overcame this hurdle with medical-cutting lasers — normally used for surgery and dermatology — on agricultural robots.
The tech, which was shortlisted for DLG’s Future Prize for Agricultural Technology, slices bugs in half and “drills a hole into the skeleton” of unwanted plants, said Arne Heinrich, company CEO.
“This is a way more energy-efficient process,” he said. It also emits “significantly lower radiation doses and “reduces the risk of eye injury or fire.”
Instead of batteries, Greek startup Terra Robotics developed a laser weeder that draws power from the tractor. Self-contained boxes house lasers, cameras and electronics that enable AI-directed weed killing. Co-founder Giannis Ioannisbakatsis said it takes about one week to train the system to work on new crops.
Laser and mechanical weeding machines must still prove their return on investment in farm fields. Their substantially high cost prevents mass adoption, at least for now; however, Kennedy is betting that won’t always be the case. He described the technology as “the light at the end of the tunnel” in February on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast.
Beyond their chemical-free properties, Kennedy referenced positive returns for specialty crops with Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder.
“For some of these farmers, it pays itself back in nine months. It’s a million-dollar machine,” Kennedy said. “The biggest onion producer in South Texas, she has 8,000 acres. She was paying $1,500 per acre for pesticides — mainly glyphosate — and manual labor. Now, with this machine, it’s $300 per acre. She’s saving over $1,000 per acre.
“There are all these new and exciting technologies that give us light at the end of the tunnel. The transition could be very fast.”