Ekobot

The Ekobot WEAI is a battery-powered autonomous robot that removes weeds mechanically from vegetable rows without herbicides. The machine weighs about 1,500 kilograms and runs for roughly ten hours on a pair of swappable lithium-ion packs. Nine onboard cameras with AI-driven recognition identify crops and weeds in real time; the weeding module then strikes each weed with steel fingers, using a soft stroke for seedlings and a harder stroke for established weeds. The module sits on a chassis with 50 centimeters of electrically adjustable vertical travel plus a side-shift mechanism that keeps it aligned with the row across bed widths from 1.5 to 3.2 meters. Two front-facing radar sensors halt the robot if a person, animal, or obstacle enters a 1.5-meter zone. The WEAI moves at about 500 meters per hour in finger-weeding mode, or up to 1.8 kilometers per hour when switched to between-row hoeing. A front three-point hitch lets a tractor lift and transport it between fields on public roads. First validated for onions and now extending to carrots and sugar beets, the WEAI has been host-tested at Swedish growers including Stockholmsgården in Löderup.

Growers access the WEAI through two paths. Some lease the robot on multi-year terms, a structure that bundles the machine with technical support, on-site installation, and software updates, letting early adopters validate the economics on their own fields before committing to ownership. Others buy outright, with recent configurations listed at approximately €135,000. Layered on top of either path is Ekobot PLUS, a cloud-based service that collects field and crop data during each weeding pass and runs it through AI to surface decision support for fertilization, irrigation, and harvest timing. The subscription turns the robot into a recurring data source for the grower, not a one-time purchase.