Light concentration weeding system

Abstract

Weeding apparatus includes a concentrator assembly having a two-dimensional array of discrete semiconductor light emitters (2), e.g. laser diodes or LEDs. A primary optical stage (3) includes collimating lenses (4) each corresponding to one of the semiconductor light emitters (2) to collimate their light and produce a compound collimated beam. A secondary optical stage (5) incorporates a lens system arranged to convert the collimated beam into a convergent beam to concentrate the emitted light at a focal position. The concentrator assembly (1) may be incorporated in a weeding unit with a mechanical drive arrangement to direct the focal position onto a selected plant. A number of such weeding units maybe incorporated in a weeding module along with a control system. The weeding modules can be carried by an autonomous rover.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.