Robot model
LaserWeeder
Carbon Robotics (founded 2018, Seattle, Washington; founder and CEO Paul Mikesell) makes the commercial LaserWeeder, which combines computer vision with…
- Manufacturer
- Carbon Robotics
- Form factor
- agriculture
- Maturity
- commercial
- Lifecycle
- active
- Deployments
- 4
- Website
- carbonrobotics.com ↗
Overview
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.
Verified vs. claimed
- Maturity stage
- commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
- Verified deployments
- 4 deployments on file
- Sources on file
- 6 sources, view all
Key facts
Form factor
Deployment
Total funding
Launch date
Autonomy level
Specs
Notes
Products
Implement
Form Factor
Autonomy level
Data & sources
Press releases
3
News coverage
2
Web sources
1
6 sources backing this record.View all →
Availability and pricing
- Availability
- Not sold (internal use)
- Price
- $1.4M (analyst estimate)as of 2022-02-07
- Units in field
- Not disclosed
- Sales model
- Not disclosed
- Lead time
- Not disclosed
Accountability: Carbon Robotics has a Claim Integrity of 67% (2 of 3 public claims verified). See the industry ledger.
Pricing
One-time purchase
$1,400,000 USDanalyst estimateas of 2022-02-07
Price status: actual-sale-price = real published price at time of sale; manufacturer-target = vendor target, not yet realized; analyst-estimate = third-party projection, not a vendor figure; not-announced = no price on record.
Prices verified as of Feb 7, 2022
Deployments (4)
- LaserWeeder at Arvinoperational
Grimmway Farms (Arvin, CA; Kern County) 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…
- LaserWeeder at Soledadoperational
Braga Fresh Partners (Braga Ranch, Soledad, CA; Salinas Valley, Monterey County) was among the first named customers in the commercial launch of the Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder in February 2022, when the first…
- LaserWeeder at Salinasoperational
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…
- LaserWeeder at Watsonvilleoperational
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.
LaserWeeder on the deployment map
Where LaserWeeder is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder G2
- Record createdJun 3, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedFeb 7, 2022
at Soledad
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedFeb 7, 2022
at Arvin
- Price point recorded: $1,400,000Feb 7, 2022
Analyst estimate
Deployment-verified media (1)
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.
From deployment: Watsonville
Supply chain (1)
Compute / semiconductor
- NVIDIANVIDIA Jetson Orin -- real-time AI weed classification and laser targetingsupplies
Suppliers appear here when verified with at least two strong sources (maker-official / IR / regulatory / standards-body / verified tier-2). Sources are append-only; corrections add new sources rather than rewrite history.
Safety record
No incidents on record for LaserWeeder.
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Sources (6)
- https://carbonrobotics.com/laserweeder
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250210556114/en/
- https://www.therobotreport.com/carbon-robotics-introduces-new-carbon-autotractor-autonomy-kit/
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241021330997/en/
- https://www.therobotreport.com/carbon-robotics-brings-in-70m-to-scale-laserweeder/
- https://www.geekwire.com/2025/carbon-robotics-raises-20m-as-laserweeder-maker-plans-secretive-new-ai-robot-for-farms/
Compare LaserWeeder
Common questions
- What is LaserWeeder?
- 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.
- How much does LaserWeeder cost?
- LaserWeeder is listed at $1,400,000 on the DEPLOY registry. This is an analyst estimate, not an official price.
- Is LaserWeeder actually deployed in the real world?
- Yes. LaserWeeder is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
- Is LaserWeeder autonomous or teleoperated?
- Yes. DEPLOY independently verifies LaserWeeder performing weed identification and laser elimination autonomously, with no human in the loop.
- Who makes LaserWeeder?
- LaserWeeder is made by Carbon Robotics, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, founded in 2018.
- Where is LaserWeeder deployed?
- 4 verified deployments of LaserWeeder are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Arvin, Soledad, Salinas.
- Can you buy LaserWeeder?
- LaserWeeder is in commercial deployment and is sold to operators; contact the manufacturer to buy, and see the pricing section for any recorded price.
- What are alternatives to LaserWeeder?
- On the DEPLOY registry, comparable agriculture robots to LaserWeeder include Ted, ARA, John Deere autonomous tractor + See & Spray, MK-V.
- How does LaserWeeder compare to Ted?
- LaserWeeder and Ted (Naio Technologies · 5 deployments) are both agriculture robots on the DEPLOY registry. LaserWeeder has 4 verified deployments on record. Compare both records for specs, safety, deployments, and verified-vs-claimed autonomy.
- Is LaserWeeder a top agriculture?
- On DEPLOY's intelligence score, which blends verified deployments, safety, adoption, media, and IP signals, LaserWeeder ranks in roughly the top 20% of agriculture models tracked by the registry.
- What is LaserWeeder's maturity stage?
- LaserWeeder is at the commercial stage on the DEPLOY maturity ladder (research, prototype, pilot, commercial, production). Commercial stage means production-grade deployments are operating at named customer sites.
- Is LaserWeeder safe?
- LaserWeeder has no incidents on record in the DEPLOY registry. This does not constitute a safety guarantee; it reflects the incidents DEPLOY has tracked and verified to date.
- How much does the Carbon Robotics LaserWeeder cost?
- The LaserWeeder costs approximately $300,000 per unit (analyst estimate). A Western Growers study found a cost of $900 per acre. The system eliminates over 200,000 weeds per hour at an 80% cost savings compared to manual weeding. It covers 3.12 acres per hour and has eliminated 40+ billion weeds across 500,000+ acres.
Methodology: Verified · 6 sources (3 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-12
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-07-12
Maturity + lifecycle
Maturity stage: commercial
Lifecycle: active
Architectural position
Cohort: agriculture
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 2
- secondary-trade-publication
- Trade publication
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for LaserWeeder.Recent coverage
LaserWeeder in third-party press
Founders on the frontiers of space and robotics show off their gadgets and tell the stories behind them - GeekWire
Seattle startup Carbon Robotics gets another shoutout from RFK Jr. for its weed-zapping robots - GeekWire
From Backyard Prototype to Global Ag Tech: Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder Revolution - AgNet West
Attention vs reality over time
Media mentions per month (area) against verified deployment events (dots). A press spike over a flat deployment line is the hype gap, drawn over time.
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning LaserWeeder from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Founders on the frontiers of space and robotics show off their gadgets and tell the stories behind them - GeekWire
<a…
Seattle startup Carbon Robotics gets another shoutout from RFK Jr. for its weed-zapping robots - GeekWire
<a…
From Backyard Prototype to Global Ag Tech: Carbon Robotics’ LaserWeeder Revolution - AgNet West
<a…
New AI Model Lets Farm Robots Identify Weeds – Then Kill Them With Lasers - SlashGear
<a…
RFK Jr. calls Carbon Robotics' laser weed zapper the 'light at the end of the tunnel' in herbicide fight - GeekWire
<a…
Frontier AI heads to the farm with Carbon Robotics’ Large Plant Model - AgFunderNews
<a…
New AI model allows farm robots to identify and kill unfamiliar weeds instantly - Mugglehead Investment Magazine
<a…
Carbon Robotics Launches the World’s First-Ever Large Plant Model - Business Wire
<a…
Carbon Robotics built an AI model that detects and identifies plants - TechCrunch
<a…
Carbon Robotics' AI instantly IDs weeds without retraining - The Tech Buzz
<a…
VIDEO: High-powered laser put to work killing weeds - The Western Producer
<a…
How Carbon Robotics built the large plant model for its laser weeding robot - The Robot Report
<a…
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /models/carbon-laserweeder.md
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/models/d27ad218-73e1-4ded-a4cd-5141c0bf4a91
- Revision history: /models/carbon-laserweeder/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Buyer-facing pricing: deploy.report/price/carbon-laserweeder
Reality vs attention
LaserWeeder draws attention at the 58th percentile but verifies reality at the 93rd percentile among ag robots. Hype Gap -35, 17th widest among ag robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Limited independent press and video coverage to date.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Jul 18, 2026