Chinese company unveils smart laser weeding robot

WUHAN -- A Chinese company has rolled out a 24/7 intelligent laser weeding robot, which it claims is potentially the country's first of its kind.

The robot, Hg LaserWeeder, was showcased on Saturday at an event hosted by Huagong Technology Industry Co Ltd, one of its developers, in Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province.

Equipped with data models covering thousands of crop and weed varieties and an AI-powered vision system, the robot can dynamically adjust its laser intensity to eliminate weeds while sparing crops, said Xiong Bian, AI algorithm lead at the company's research institute.

"This robot is expected to replace chemical herbicides, known as the 'number one soil killer,'" Xiong said.

The technology, which maintains a weed removal rate of over 95 percent, aims to eliminate chemical herbicide residues that contaminate soil and water, reducing agricultural pollution at its source.

A high-end version of the robot features up to 32 laser heads, enabling it to destroy as many as 320,000 weeds per hour, which is four to eight times more efficient than traditional methods that combine manual labor and herbicides, according to the company.

The recognition and targeting process takes less than five milliseconds from image capture to weed elimination.

Ma Xinqiang, chairman of Huagong Technology, said that building a new development paradigm and driving high-quality growth requires strengthening innovation more than ever before.

Huagong, he added, will continue to increase investment in innovation, boost talent density, and expand its network of partners.

The company said the weeding robot has completed algorithm validation trials in test fields in Yunnan and Heilongjiang provinces, and global pre-orders are now open.

Mass production is targeted for 2026, it added.