Honeybee vs AX-1
Two weeding machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
Fully autonomous battery-electric laser weeding robot from Caterra, an ETH Zürich spin-off (Glattbrugg, ZH) — deep-learning vision distinguishes crop, weed and soil, then kills weeds with laser pulses to within ~3 mm of the crop, herbicide-free and organic-certified. In pre-order as of mid-2026 after 2025 field pilots (incl. the smaller 300 kg Grasshopper test fleet of 11 units); direct sales only, no dealer network yet.
Best for: Organic and high-value vegetable growers (~10–15+ ha of annual crops) replacing labour-intensive hand weeding with 24/7 in-row laser weeding.Norwegian ultra-precision weeding robot for open-field vegetables — an AI vision system detects individual weeds and a patented Single-Drop nozzle (SDT) fires one micro-droplet of herbicide directly onto each weed at 6x6mm resolution, cutting herbicide input by a manufacturer-claimed average of 96.6%. Independently tested by Wageningen University & Research at over 99% spray-drift reduction (Dutch DRT99, the system's highest class), and commercially deployed since 2021 across Norway, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia, with a 2025 Kubota partnership now expanding EU dealer-network sales.
Best for: Open-field vegetable and root-crop growers (carrots, onions, beets, celery/celeriac, spinach, salads, parsley and similar) in Norway and neighbouring EU markets who still spray herbicide and want to sharply cut volume and drift without switching to purely mechanical or laser weeding.| Honeybee Verified 2026-07-16 | AX-1 Verified 2026-07-18 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Weeding | Weeding |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Switzerland | Norway |
| Availability | Pre-order | Available now |
| EU market | Pending | Pending |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-18 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Battery-electric — over 24 h per battery set, two sets supplied for 24/7 operation | Electric drive with a small onboard petrol generator (per GOFAR robotics database; not itemized on the manufacturer's own site) |
| Required tractor power | Is the vehicle (self-propelled) | Not required (self-propelled autonomous unit) |
| Dimensions | Track width configurable 1.50–1.80 m (beds or dams) | Approx. 220 x 215 x 150 cm (third-party listing; not published by Kilter) |
| Weight | Not disclosed (smaller Grasshopper pilot unit — 300 kg) | 280 kg dry / 365 kg wet (GOFAR database; distributed to minimise soil compaction) |
| Min farm size | ~10 ha annual crops (15+ ha ideal) | Not disclosed |
| Productivity | 24/7 capable; multiple robots can work the same field (Grasshopper pilot — ~80 m/h) | Not disclosed — third-party estimates conflict (0.33-1 ha/hr) and Kilter does not publish a figure |
| Max speed | Not disclosed | Up to 2 km/h (third-party listing; not published by Kilter) |
| Sensors | RTK-GNSS navigation · cameras with deep-learning crop/weed/soil segmentation | AI vision with a deep-learning neural network for real-time weed/crop detection at 6x6mm targeting resolution; RTK-GNSS (dual-antenna) and IMU for autonomous navigation (third-party listing) |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | ≈€220,000 | ≈€130,000 |
| Native price | ≈€220,000 purchase (4-laser) or ≈€65,000/year lease — trade-press figures, not published by Caterra | ≈€130,000 (third-party: Future Farming robot database — Kilter quotes individually) |
| Business model | Direct sales / pre-order via Caterra; one-year lease option reported | Buy — direct from Kilter AS (Langhus, Norway) via a consultative sales process (farm details submitted for a quote; no public price list), or through regional distributors such as Croplands (Australia). A Kubota partnership (announced at Agritechnica 2025) is expanding dealer-network sales in Germany and the Netherlands through 2025-2026. |
| Ongoing cost | Electricity; laser and optics service (terms not disclosed) | Herbicide/bio-herbicide refills (any crop-registered agrochemical usable in a boom sprayer, e.g. pelargonic acid); Single-Drop nozzle module (SDT-N2) wear parts. Specific service cost figures not disclosed. |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Hand-weeding labour in organic vegetables Autonomous 24/7 laser weeding, herbicide-free · vendor | Spray drift vs. a conventional reference sprayer More than 99% spray-drift reduction — qualifies for DRT99, the highest class in the Dutch drift-reduction classification system · independent |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | Not confirmed — pre-series/pre-order stage | No explicit CE-marking statement found on Kilter's public materials; the AX-1 is sold and in active commercial/pilot use in EU member states (Sweden, Germany, Netherlands) and passed independent Dutch DRT99 spray-drift certification (WUR/TCT) |
| Machinery Regulation | Swiss manufacturer — CH follows EU machinery rules via the CH–EU Mutual Recognition Agreement; EU-market conformity not yet demonstrated publicly | Not explicitly addressed by the manufacturer; as an autonomous field-spraying machine placed on EU markets, would fall under the autonomous-machine provisions of Regulation (EU) 2023/1230 if formally assessed |
| CAP subsidy | Herbicide-free weeding aligns with CAP eco-schemes and CH Absenkpfad (pesticide-reduction) goals | Precision spot-application (manufacturer-claimed ~95-96.6% herbicide reduction) supports CAP eco-scheme and integrated-pest-management / pesticide-reduction objectives |
"—" means the manufacturer has not disclosed the figure; we never estimate silently. Model either machine's payback with your own numbers on its ROI calculator page.