WEAI vs Field Friend (Feldfreund)
Two weeding machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
Swedish battery-electric weeding robot purpose-built for onion beds (and extending to carrots and beetroot) — AI vision plus GPS-RTK guide finger weeders that pull up to five weeds per second per unit across 5–8 rows on beds 1.50–3.20 m wide. The ~1,500–1,700 kg platform runs 8–12 h per day on ~7 kWh of swappable batteries at 1 km/h and can be lifted on a tractor three-point hitch for road transport. Dutch dealer Homburg Holland became importer (NL/BE), then acquired Ekobot outright in 2024, planning 20 machines for the Netherlands and Sweden in 2025.
Best for: Onion growers (and increasingly carrot/red-beet growers) in the Netherlands, Belgium and Sweden with ~10 ha of beds per robot who want season-long autonomous mechanical in-row weed control with established dealer support via Homburg.Modular AI mini field robot from Zauberzeug (Havixbeck, Münsterland) — a ~100 kg tracked platform under 1 m³ that uses onboard camera AI (the "Zauberzeug Robot Brain" edge-compute unit) to distinguish crops from weeds and mechanically remove them, including deep-rooted weeds. Offered both as a pay-per-hour weeding service (no machine purchase) and as a development platform; trade press reported roughly €20,000 for the machine with tools up to ~€5,000 extra. Winner of the Münsterland Innovation Award 2023/24.
Best for: Small-scale German vegetable and row-crop growers, market gardens and research users who want camera-guided mechanical in-row weeding without a big capex — pay per hour of weeding done.| WEAI Verified 2026-07-17 | Field Friend (Feldfreund) Verified 2026-07-17 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Weeding | Weeding |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Sweden | Germany |
| Availability | Available now | Available now |
| EU market | CE-marked | CE-marked |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-17 | 2026-07-17 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Battery-electric — 2 batteries, ~7 kWh total, manually swapped; 8–12 h operation per day | Battery-electric; solar panel and backup battery cited for extended operation |
| Required tractor power | Is the vehicle (three-point-hitch pickup by tractor for road transport) | Is the vehicle (compact tracked mini robot) |
| Dimensions | Bed widths 1.50–3.20 m, adjustable row spacing, 5–8 rows; tool/detection height electrically adjustable by 50 cm | Under 1 m³ compact footprint (dev-kit chassis: 845 × 670 × 685 mm) |
| Weight | ~1,500–1,700 kg (vendor pages state 1,700 kg; Future Farming reported ~1,500 kg for the new platform) | ~100 kg (dev-kit chassis 100 kg) |
| Min farm size | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Productivity | Keeps up to ~10 ha weed-free per robot per season | Not disclosed |
| Max speed | 1 km/h working speed | Not disclosed |
| Sensors | AI camera crop/weed detection · GPS-RTK navigation · safety bumpers, e-stops and cameras | Camera AI crop/weed differentiation · GPS-RTK navigation · Zauberzeug Robot Brain edge-AI computer |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | Not disclosed | ~€20,000 |
| Native price | Not disclosed | ~€20,000 (machine, trade-press reported, Nov 2024) + up to ~€5,000 tools; service model priced per hour |
| Business model | Sold and serviced via Homburg Holland (owner since 2024) in NL/BE; Ekobot AB channel in Sweden | Pay-per-hour weeding service as the headline model; machine and dev-kit purchase also offered |
| Ongoing cost | Battery swapping/charging; finger-weeder wear parts; Homburg service, spares, training and warranty | Service model includes maintenance; battery cycling and tool wear if machine is owned |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Onion yield +6% · vendor | Herbicide use Camera-guided mechanical single-weed removal, herbicide-free, including deep-rooted weeds · vendor |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | EU-built series machine sold in NL/SE via an established dealer; CE marking not independently verified | German-built machine operating commercially in Germany; CE status not independently verified |
| Machinery Regulation | Swedish-built, Dutch-owned series product; conformity maintained under the EU machinery regime | EU-built; conformity route under the EU machinery regime not published |
| CAP subsidy | Herbicide-free weeding in high-value vegetables supports CAP eco-scheme and organic conversion goals | Herbicide-free mechanical weeding supports CAP eco-scheme and organic goals |
"—" 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.