Selectively Eradicating Plants

Abstract

A plant eradication system includes a mobile chassis, a camera carried by the mobile chassis and configured to generate images of multiple plants arranged in a bed as the mobile chassis is moved in a direction along the bed, a processor configured to determine respective locations of the multiple plants from the generated images, a controller configured to select one or more target plants from among the multiple plants for eradication, and a rotary cutter carried by the mobile chassis and rotatable about an axis extending in the direction along which the mobile chassis is moved along the bed, wherein the rotary cutter is responsive to the controller to accelerate a blade of the rotary cutter to strike a selected plant as the mobile chassis is moved along the bed, and to decelerate the blade to avoid eradicating unselected plants as the mobile chassis is moved along the bed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.