Farming GT vs TOR laser weeder
Two weeding machines, one verified table. Every figure below is sourced and dated; vendor claims are labelled and kept apart from independent results.
Stuttgart-built autonomous hoeing robot that identifies crops from the 1 cm cotyledon stage across 100+ validated crops and weeds mechanically around the clock — 40+ robots working 1000+ fields, offered mainly as weeding-as-a-service.
Best for: Vegetable and row-crop growers in Germany and neighbouring EU countries with high hand-weeding costs who want herbicide-free in-row hoeing without buying hardware.First Dutch laser weeding robot, launched June 2025 by Trabotyx (Maarssen) — an autonomous GPS-RTK platform that kills weeds as small as 1 mm with blue diode lasers (adjustable to 200 W each, up to 6 lasers per machine), zero-till and chemical-free. Trained for nine vegetables (carrots, onions, lettuce, cabbage, herbs, spinach, beet, parsnip, chicory) and three flower-bulb crops (lilies, tulips, peonies), with under 2% crop hit rate. The TOR Flex works a 1.5 m width; production is capped at 10 machines for the 2026 season.
Best for: Dutch organic and low-input vegetable and flower-bulb growers who want chemical-free, zero-till in-row weed control — the laser removes weeds mechanical hoes miss without disturbing soil, and the vendor claims ~91% fewer weeds versus conventional practice.| Farming GT Verified 2026-07-16 | TOR laser weeder Verified 2026-07-17 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Weeding | Weeding |
| Autonomy | Fully autonomous | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | Germany | Netherlands |
| Availability | Available now | Available now |
| EU market | CE-marked | CE-marked |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-17 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Battery-electric · 24+ h runtime | Battery-electric with solar panel; swappable battery, ~10 h operation at standard weed density |
| Required tractor power | Not required (self-propelled, no tractor or driver) | Is the vehicle (autonomous laser-weeding platform) |
| Dimensions | Track width variable 138–225 cm (convertible in ~15 min) | Working width 1.5 m (TOR Flex); 1.8 m and 3.0 m versions announced |
| Weight | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Min farm size | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Productivity | Up to 10 ha per 24 h, unsupervised day and night | ~1.3 ha/day autonomous; ~1 ha per 18.5 h at 360 m/h at standard weed density |
| Max speed | Not disclosed | 360–500 m/h working speed |
| Sensors | AI multispectral plant/stem detection from 1 cm size · row guidance without GNSS dependency · collision and rain sensors | Camera AI crop/weed discrimination (crop hit rate <2% on trained crops) · GPS-RTK navigation |
| Price & model | ||
| Price (EUR) | Not disclosed | from €214,000 |
| Native price | Not disclosed | from €214,000 (TOR Flex) + €14,980/yr service, support and maintenance |
| Business model | Primarily weeding-as-a-service; direct machine sale on request | Direct sale by Trabotyx B.V.; maximum 10 machines available for the 2026 season; Dutch robotics subsidy rounds have applied |
| Ongoing cost | Service pricing not published | €14,980 per year service, support and maintenance; battery cycling |
| Key outcome | ||
| Best verified result | Herbicide use −100% · vendor | Weed pressure -91% · vendor |
| EU context | ||
| CE marking | CE-conform per vendor (Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC compliance stated) | Dutch-built machine launched commercially June 2025; CE marking not independently verified |
| Machinery Regulation | Vendor states 2006/42/EC compliance; 2023/1230 transition status not published | EU-built series product; conformity route under the EU machinery regime not published |
| CAP subsidy | Herbicide-free mechanical weeding aligns with eco-scheme goals; no formal listing verified | Chemical-free zero-till weeding supports CAP eco-scheme and organic goals; Dutch national robotics subsidies have covered TOR purchases |
"—" 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.