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New Zealand: Researcher considers drone-mounted lasers to burn weeds

New Zealand researcher Dr. Kioumars Ghamkhar is studying lasers to determine their ability to target and kill plants that are identified, through their chemical spectrum, as weeds. The next step would be to mount the weed detector and laser equipment on drones. They would then kill the weeds from the air.

He said a drone-mounted laser could take 2-3 hours to do a weed-killing job that would take a farmer 2-3 days.

Ghamkhar hopes to start testing the lasers in the lab, in early 2018, with drone-mounted laser tests in the late summer or early fall of 2018. The project has been funded with NZD $1,000,000 for three years.

The researcher noted possible laser-related hazards: "There are issues we would have to consider such as heat generated by the lasers, and the risk of starting fire, and we'll be very conscious of this particularly where there are dry days or drought conditions. We'll also be looking at using a group of small lasers to direct at the weed, as opposed to one large and powerful laser that might generate more heat."

From an October 4 2017 story at Stuff.co.nz