Robocrop InRow Weeder 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.
Long-established tractor-mounted vision-guided weeder — video image analysis at 30 frames/second locates each individual plant and steers rotating in-row weeding discs around it, killing weeds between rows AND between plants within the row to ~8 mm of the stem. The 2025-season Robocrop AI upgrade adds green-on-green recognition fusing colour, infrared and depth imaging. Like One Smart Spray, this is AI-driven intelligence on a conventional tractor implement, not a standalone robot.
Best for: Transplanted vegetable growers (lettuce, brassicas, celery) and sugar-beet farms replacing hand-weeding gangs or herbicides with camera-guided mechanical in-row weeding on their existing tractor.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.| Robocrop InRow Weeder Verified 2026-07-16 | AX-1 Verified 2026-07-18 | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Task | Weeding | Weeding |
| Autonomy | AI-assisted | Fully autonomous |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom | Norway |
| Availability | Available now | Available now |
| EU market | CE-marked | Pending |
| Lead time | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Last verified | 2026-07-16 | 2026-07-18 |
| Specifications | ||
| Power source | Tractor-mounted implement, hydraulic drive | Electric drive with a small onboard petrol generator (per GOFAR robotics database; not itemized on the manufacturer's own site) |
| Required tractor power | Conventional tractor required; hydraulic side-shift steering of the toolbar | Not required (self-propelled autonomous unit) |
| Dimensions | Working widths up to 6 m / up to 20 rows supplied; larger builds available | Approx. 220 x 215 x 150 cm (third-party listing; not published by Kilter) |
| Weight | Not disclosed | 280 kg dry / 365 kg wet (GOFAR database; distributed to minimise soil compaction) |
| Min farm size | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
| Productivity | Forward speeds up to 6 plant spacings per second | Not disclosed — third-party estimates conflict (0.33-1 ha/hr) and Kilter does not publish a figure |
| Max speed | Crop-spacing dependent (up to 6 plants/s per row) | Up to 2 km/h (third-party listing; not published by Kilter) |
| Sensors | Robocrop video image analysis at 30 fps · Robocrop AI (2025) adds colour + infrared + depth green-on-green plant recognition · 10.1" in-cab terminal | 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) | Not disclosed | ≈€130,000 |
| Native price | Not disclosed | ≈€130,000 (third-party: Future Farming robot database — Kilter quotes individually) |
| Business model | Buy via Garford and its UK/international dealer network | 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 | Wear metal (discs, blades), camera care; no software subscription published | 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 | In-row weeding precision Mechanical weeding to ~8 mm from the plant stem · 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 | CE marked for EU sales; UKCA for the UK market | 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 | Tractor-mounted implement under the EU machinery regime; operator remains in control | 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 | Mechanical/herbicide-free weeding supports CAP eco-scheme and organic conversion measures | 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.