4 ms·
Laser-wielding robots are already being successfully deployed to combat weeds at scale on farms across the US. > How about biologically engineered insects/bact
by margalabargala 2y ago
Laser-wielding robots are already being successfully deployed to combat weeds at scale on farms across the US.
> How about biologically engineered insects/bacteria that destroy weeds and pests? How about pesticides which don't have the downsides of what's currently used?
Aside from these not currently existing, they also have far worse failure modes than robots with lasers. Introducing species for biological control methods have a long and storied history of becoming a problem as bad as or worse than the original problem.
- ceejayoz 2y agoThe article does note that this may similarly cause plants to fight back. Nothing so cool as mirrored weeds, but... > It’s not just chemicals. Weeds can become resistant to any type of control method. In a classic example from China, a weed called barnyard grass evolved over centuries to resemble rice and thus evade hand weeding.