Buying guide
LaserWeeder vs MK-V in 2026
Comparing 2 humanoid robots across availability, pricing, capabilities, and verified deployments. Current as of 2026.
Key differences
Neither LaserWeeder nor MK-V leads across the verified dimensions on DEPLOY's record as of 2026; the comparison table holds every sourced figure side by side.
| Attribute | No image on file | No image on file |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Carbon Robotics | Monarch Tractor |
| Form factor | agriculture | agriculture |
| Maturity | commercial | commercial |
| Autonomy | ✓ 1 verified autonomous | ✓ 1 verified autonomous |
| Availability | internal-onlyenterprise | discontinueddiscontinued |
| Price | $1,400,000 (analyst estimate) | Not announced |
| Capability claims |
|
|
| Brain | — | — |
| Verified deployments | 4 | 4 |
| Privacy practices | — | — |
| Sources on file | 11 | 18 |
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LaserWeeder
MK-V
Editorial summaries
LaserWeeder
Carbon Robotics (founded 2018, Seattle; CEO Paul Mikesell) makes the commercial LaserWeeder, which combines computer vision with high-power lasers to kill weeds without chemicals. There is no consumer price: it is B2B agricultural equipment, not a product sold to consumers. By its own reporting it has serviced more than 250,000 acres, eliminated over 15 billion weeds, and runs as 150-plus machines on 100-plus farms across roughly 14-15 countries; a modular, faster LaserWeeder G2 launched in February 2025.
A load-bearing classification point: the LaserWeeder is a towed, pull-behind implement with no locomotion of its own (a conventional tractor pulls it). Carbon's original 2021 LaserWeeder was a self-driving platform, but the company deliberately pivoted to a smart-implement format for faster payback; its separate Carbon AutoTractor kit (April 2025) is the autonomy and mobility layer, a retrofit that adds remote-supervised driverless operation to John Deere 6R and 8R tractors, at early and limited commercial release.
On funding, Carbon's own Series D release puts total funding at $157 million (a $70M Series D led by BOND in October 2024); an aggregator figure of about $276 million is not primary-verified and is not asserted, and the deployment figures are company-reported.
MK-V
Monarch Tractor (founded 2018, Livermore, California; CEO Praveen Penmetsa) built the MK-V, a fully battery-electric, driver-optional smart tractor with a WingspanAI fleet-management and remote-supervision layer. There is no consumer price, and the company is discontinued. The MK-V did reach a genuine historical peak: it shipped to paying commercial customers starting December 2022 (the first being Constellation Brands, which took six tractors for its To Kalon vineyard), and Monarch raised more than $220 million anchored by a $133M Series C in July 2024 (recorded at commercial maturity historically).
But Monarch collapsed through 2025: its Foxconn manufacturing arrangement ended (the Ohio plant was sold to SoftBank in August 2025), with layoffs and a shutdown warning in November 2025, a pivot to roughly 70% licensing revenue, and finally an assignment for the benefit of creditors; its assets and IP (the software-defined vehicle platform and perception stack) were acquired by Caterpillar around April 14, 2026, in an asset-and-technology purchase, not a going-concern acquisition. On autonomy, marketing of a fully autonomous tractor overstated reality: full autonomy was confined to a narrow dairy feed-pushing use case, while general field work was driver-assist with an operator aboard, and an Idaho dealer sued in September 2025 alleging the tractors could not operate autonomously.
It is the wound-down anchor of the agriculture cohort.
Common questions
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Recent coverage
- Founders on the frontiers of space and robotics show off their gadgets and tell the stories behind them - GeekWireLaserWeeder · Google News · 2026-06-09
- Monarch Tractor's collapse ends with acquisition by CaterpillarMK-V · Ben Smith, Deploy Editor · 2026-04-15
- Monarch Tractor shuts down after raising 40MMK-V · Ben Smith, Deploy Editor · 2026-04-08
- Seattle startup Carbon Robotics gets another shoutout from RFK Jr. for its weed-zapping robots - GeekWireLaserWeeder · Google News · 2026-02-28
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