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Deployment

LaserWeeder at Salinas

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 · 2 sources · not yet field-verified · Agricultural robots

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Recent coverage

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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.

Triangle Farms (Salinas, CA; president and GM Josh Roberts) was among the first named customers in the commercial launch of the Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder in February 2022, when the first production run of 30-laser machines sold out. Triangle Farms grows vegetables in the Salinas Valley, one of the most productive produce regions in the US.

The LaserWeeder enables precise autonomous weed removal using directed laser beams, eliminating manual labor and chemical herbicide cost in Salinas Valley specialty crops. Roberts was quoted in the February 2022 Business Wire announcement as an early adopter.

Key facts

Operator
Triangle Farms, Salinas, CA (president and GM Josh Roberts)
Deployment
First production batch, February 2022 commercial launch
Crops
Salinas Valley vegetables (specialty crops)
Technology
Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder (30 lasers, AI weed identification)

Safety record

No incidents on record for LaserWeeder at Salinas.

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

Trust tier
Catalog entry · 2 sources · not yet field-verifiedhow tiers work →
Last updated
2026-07-10
Model
LaserWeeder
Company
Carbon Robotics
Location
United States/California/Salinas
Operator
Carbon Robotics
Status
operational
Operator type
customer deployed
First seen
2022-01-01
ID
21eead88-7a54-47d1-9664-e819a93889c2

Timeline

  1. Jan 2022
    First recorded
    LaserWeeder first documented operating at Salinas.
  2. 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 Salinas. Explore the full verified map:

Sources (2)

  1. Carbon Robotics Unveils New LaserWeeder with 30 Lasers (Triangle Farms, Salinas named; Josh Roberts quoted) · https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220207005189/en/Carbon-Robotics-Unveils-New-LaserWeeder-with-30-Lasers-to-Autonomously-Eradicate-Weeds · 2022-02-07
  2. https://carbonrobotics.com/laserweeder
Methodology: Verified · 2 sources (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-10

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-10

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: agriculture

Sources by quality tier

2
unclassified
Unclassified source

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

Methodology surface for LaserWeeder at Salinas.

Common questions

What is the LaserWeeder deployment at Salinas?
LaserWeeder, built by Carbon Robotics, is recorded as a deployment at Salinas on the DEPLOY registry. Carbon Robotics operates the deployment directly.
Who operates LaserWeeder at Salinas?
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 Salinas 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 Salinas?
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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