Abstract
Weed control is necessary to ensure a high crop yield with good quality. Herbicide application and mechanical weeding are the most common methods worldwide. The use of herbicides has led to the increasing occurrence of herbicide-resistant weeds and unwanted contamination of the environment. Mechanical weed control harms beneficial organisms, increases the degradation of organic matter, may dry out the soil, and stimulate new cohorts of weed seeds to germinate. Therefore, there is a need to develop more sustainable weed control means. We suggest using small autonomous vehicles equipped with lasers as a sustainable alternative method. Laser beams are based on electricity, which can be produced from non-fossil fuels. Deep learning methods can be used to locate and identify weed and crop plants for targeting and delivery of laser energy with robotic actuators. Given the targeted nature of laser beams, the area exposed for weed control can be reduced substantially compared to commonly used weed control methods. Therefore, the risk of affecting non-target organisms is minimized, and the soil will be kept untouched in the field, avoiding triggering weed seeds to germinate. Small autonomous vehicles may have limited weeding capacity, and precautions need to be taken as reflections from the laser beam can be harmful to humans and animals. In this paper, we discuss the pros and cons of replacing or supplementing common used weed control methods with laser weeding. The ability to use laser weeding technology is relatively new and not yet widely practiced or commercially available. Therefore, we do not discuss and compare the costs of the various methods at this early stage of the development of the technology.
Highlights
Indiscriminate application of herbicides increases the risk of environmental contamination, given weeds typically constitute only a small proportion of the target area, with most herbicide applied hitting non-target material or lost to spray drift (Kudsk and Streibig, 2003; Harrison, 2011)
Several initiatives have been taken combining recognitions tools for plant species identification with laser equipment placed on small autonomous vehicles creating a new way to control weeds
Are small autonomous vehicles equipped with lasers for weed control friends or foes? They can be friends because laser weeding does not pose the same problems as other weed control methods and constitutes a suitable alternative or supplement to, for example, herbicide application or mechanical weed control
Summary
Worldwide, weed infestations constitute one of the most devastating constraints for crop production and make it challenging to increase yields and supply food for a growing population (FAO, 2021). For transmission of high-power laser radiation from the laser source to the focusing optics two different alternatives are used in applications: beam guiding by glass fibers and beam guiding through the air by mirror systems. A thulium-doped fiber laser emitting at 2 μm wavelength is more beneficial because the radiation penetrates through the epidermis and is not solely absorbed on the surface of the plant (Wieliczka et al, 1989).
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