Nathan Allen first saw the need for a gardening robot when he noticed how theย war against weeds was impacting his mother’s love of gardening. His mother found the volume of weeds in her garden aย struggle, and as a result, gardening became less enjoyable for her. Nathan decided to tackle this problem for his mother and other gardenersย by coming up with a nontraditional solution.
The solution to his mother’s gardening problem became Weedebud, a solar-powered robot gardner, which he invented in partnershipย withย Kevin Lambson. Allen and Lambson came toย this solution because other weedingย methodsย are labor intensive or hazardous to the environment. Their goal has been to create a low cost, environmentally friendly, and effective solution to weed problems.
Weedebud is the first solar-powered gardening robot of its kind. The robotย is able to wander aย garden autonomously, searching forย and pulling outย weedย sprouts under three inches. Weedebud only pulls out small sprouts so that more mature plants are not disturbed. By only pulling out small sprouts, it is able to ensure thatย weeds are pulled before they get unmanageable or too plentiful.
In a typical day Weedebud can cover 15’ร15′, with the possibility for themย to work in teams in order to coverย larger areas.
Currently, Weedebud is still being worked on with the hope of launching a Kickstarter later this year. The Kickstarter launch dependsย on when the product is finalized and the interest generated by the idea.
If you are interested in learning more about Weedebud, you can find themย at this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire inย Homegrown Village. You can also find more information at their website.
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