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Deployment

LaserWeeder at Watsonville

Carbon Robotics (founded 2018, Seattle, Washington; founder and CEO Paul Mikesell) makes the commercial LaserWeeder, which combines computer vision with high-power lasers to kill weeds without chemicals. By its own reporting the product has serviced more than 250,000 acres, eliminated over 15 billion weeds, and runs as 150-plus machines on 100-plus farms across roughly fourteen to fifteen countries; a modular, faster LaserWeeder G2 line launched in February 2025. A load-bearing classification point: the LaserWeeder is a towed, pull-behind implement with no locomotion of its own, pulled through the field by a conventional tractor. Carbon's original 2021 LaserWeeder was a self-driving platform, but the company deliberately pivoted to a smart-implement format for faster payback. Its separate Carbon AutoTractor kit, launched in April 2025, is the autonomy and mobility layer: a retrofit that adds remote-supervised driverless operation to John Deere 6R and 8R tractors, at an early and limited commercial release. On funding, Carbon's own Series D release puts total funding at $157 million (a $70 million Series D led by BOND in October 2024, after a $30 million Series C led by Sozo in 2023), with an additional roughly $20 million raised in October 2025 for a new undisclosed robot; an aggregator figure of about $276 million is not primary-verified and is not asserted here.

LaserWeeder by Carbon Robotics · Operated by Carbon Robotics · Catalog entry · 3 sources · not yet field-verified · Agricultural robots

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Machine-readable surfaces

Footage

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Carbon Robotics

Carbon Robotics' footage of its LaserWeeder G2 performing AI-vision laser weeding in-field. The LaserWeeder is a tractor-towed implement, not an autonomous vehicle: the tractor provides locomotion while computer vision targets and lasers weeds.

Carbon Robotics (Seattle, WA) commercially launched the 30-laser LaserWeeder in February 2022; the production run sold out with orders from growers across California, Washington, and beyond. Early California customers include Triangle Farms (Salinas), Braga Ranch / Braga Fresh (Soledad), Taylor Farms, Grimmway Farms, Terranova Ranch, and Bowles Farming Co. The LaserWeeder uses AI and flash photography to identify weeds at the sprout stage and burns them with directed laser beams, eliminating mechanical soil disruption. Priced at approximately $1.4M per unit. As of 2024, more than 100 LaserWeeders are owned and operated by growers across North America, Europe, and Australia. Demonstrated at the 2023 Organic Growers Summit in Monterey, CA.

Key facts

Commercial launch
February 7, 2022 (30-laser LaserWeeder); first production run sold out
Named 2022 customers (CA)
Triangle Farms (Salinas), Braga Ranch (Soledad), Taylor Farms, Grimmway Farms, Terranova Ranch, Bowles Farming Co
Fleet scale
100+ growers across North America, Europe, and Australia (as of 2024)
Price
~$1.4M per unit (reported at 2023 Organic Growers Summit)
Technology
AI + flash photography + 30 robotically-directed lasers; targets weeds at sprout stage; no soil disruption

Safety record

No incidents on record for LaserWeeder at Watsonville.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 3 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-07-22
Model
LaserWeeder
Company
Carbon Robotics
Location
United States/California/Watsonville
Operator
Carbon Robotics
Status
operational
Operator type
maker operated
First seen
2022-01-01
ID
38c24c9d-7878-426c-91f6-692b56a23b51

Timeline

  1. Jan 2022
    First recorded
    LaserWeeder first documented operating at Watsonville.
  2. Jun 2026
    created
  3. Jul 2026
    Current status: operational, reviewed
    Latest recorded state. New status transitions append here as the deployment-status recorder produces them.

On the deployment map

LaserWeeder operates in Watsonville. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (3)

  1. https://carbonrobotics.com/
  2. Carbon Robotics Unveils New LaserWeeder with 30 Lasers to Autonomously Eradicate Weeds (first production run sold out; Triangle Farms among customers) · https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220207005189/en/Carbon-Robotics-Unveils-New-LaserWeeder-with-30-Lasers-to-Autonomously-Eradicate-Weeds · 2022-02-07
  3. Carbon Robotics LaserWeeders eliminate over 10 billion weeds (100+ units, global scale) · https://www.globalagtechinitiative.com/in-field-technologies/robotics-automation/carbon-robotics-laserweeders-eliminate-over-10-billion-weeds/
Methodology: Verified · 3 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-22

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-22

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: agriculture

Sources by quality tier

3
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for LaserWeeder at Watsonville.

Common questions

What is the LaserWeeder deployment at Watsonville?
LaserWeeder, built by Carbon Robotics, is recorded as a deployment at Watsonville on the DEPLOY registry. Carbon Robotics operates the deployment directly.
Who operates LaserWeeder at Watsonville?
Carbon Robotics, the manufacturer of LaserWeeder, operates this deployment directly. This is a maker-deploys-its-own-product arrangement rather than a customer pilot.
When did the LaserWeeder deployment at Watsonville go live?
The deployment is recorded as starting January 1, 2022 on the DEPLOY registry. Earlier activity may exist but is not yet sourced.
Have there been incidents at the LaserWeeder deployment at Watsonville?
No active incidents affecting this deployment are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Absence of recorded incidents is not a guarantee no incident occurred; DEPLOY records only sourced incidents and suppresses retracted ones.

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