Latest news with #KennyLee
Forbes
4 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
New Robot Weeders Are Coming Our Way
Kenny Lee, CEO of Aigen with his low-energy robot. Thumbnail: one of the pics Worldwide, weeding is a big business. In general, it's back-breaking labor – not the kind of thing that it's particularly easy for humans to do. In terms of market size, the global weeding market is worth around $42 billion, according to market estimates, out of a general global agriculture equipment market of $193 billion. That provides a basic idea of just how much money is in this area of agriculture – but it's really interesting to look at a number of technology trends that are having an effect on that age-old process of separating weeds from crops, something that humans had to do previously through hours of stooping and grasping isolated greens by the roots. The Problem with Herbicides Decades ago, agriculture moved away from the hand-weeding of crop areas, toward the specialized application of all kinds of herbicides. Now, most weeding is done on smaller or more specialized farms – big ag largely has herbicide methods in place to blanket-spray enormous crop fields. But this came with well-documented problems – glyphosate as a carcinogen has been an enormous challenge for the industry, and other herbicides have their own drawbacks, too. In addition, many weeds are now becoming herbicide-resistant, so that the traditional applications don't even have the effect that they had before. Just take a look at international policy, corporate agriculture, and the body of literature around herbicides, and you'll see just how problematic these processes have been and continue to be, and how new problems are developing. A chart from Aigen shows how the company uses specific hardware to achieve a very low-energy ... More footprint for its machines. A New Solution: Robot Weeding However, with the recent advances in AI and neural nets, a new solution is emerging. And it's emerging quickly. Throughout the last couple of decades, we gave robots and computers the means to 'see' through sophisticated computer vision with convolutional neural networks. Now we have AI agent capabilities, allowing the same types of engines to discriminate between visual information in a task-based way. That's perfect for the job of weeding. I was excited to recently see a real-world application of this in the form of a project by the Aigen company, pioneered by a team including Kenny Lee, who has an executive MBA from MIT/Sloan and 20 years of experience in technology. Along with former Tesla engineer Rich Wurden and others, Lee worked on a test robotics program where mobile robots are working land in the Red River Valley and Central California regions in a way that's 100% autonomous, using edge AI solar energy power to do this kind of work efficiently, and on a leaner carbon footprint. 'Think about a Mars rover for the Earth,' Lee said, unveiling how this robotic system works to replace costly and sometimes dangerous herbicides. 50 of these vehicles are currently weeding crop areas in what Lee calls a 'huge opportunity for converting data to action using AI and robotics.' But, he cautioned, it's not just about data aggregation – there's also implementation. 'Data alone is not useful for the farmers,' he said. He explained that unlike a lot of more generic robotic tillers, these pieces of equipment mimic the human action in the weeding process, for more targeted results. He mentioned the big value in replacing outdated herbicide application methods. '(Herbicides are) a huge problem for growers across the world,' he said. Under the Hood Lee explained that because the vehicles use a 'true solar' approach, with real-time solar power processing, and batteries as backups, they are able to operate on only 6 watts, a tiny amount of electrical juice. Part of that, he said, involves taking advantage of quantization, where new lower-bit models have helped innovators bring LLMs to autonomous devices with an edge AI approach. The solar system, he said, runs on an additional 200 watts. That's still low. As we watched the mechanical systems scour the crop land, Lee discussed how farmers are embracing this technology, realizing that they may be able to save enormous amounts of money and enhance their reputations, too, with thought leadership that addresses how agriculture is changing so quickly. It's not hard to imagine the future crop lands of the world being dotted with these roving weeding machines, rather than herbicide sprayers. It was exciting to see these machines in action, and understand what they mean for agriculture. What's very exciting, too, is the health benefits that would come along with this innovation - for the planet, for the people, and for a more chemical-free future.
New York Times
19-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Scams and a Rent Spike Follow New York City's New Broker Fee Law
Getting an apartment in New York City was supposed to be easier this summer. Because of a new law, many renters would no longer have to pay thousands of dollars to brokers that landlords had brought in to help. For many people, that has proved true. But a New York Times analysis of 1.3 million listings on the popular rental site StreetEasy also suggests that the shift has come at a cost: Many more landlords than usual raised rents the week the law took effect in June, often by hundreds of dollars a month. Even though higher rents are typical in the busy summer season, the median rent in the city rose in June more than would be expected, according to statistics provided by StreetEasy. The Times's analysis showed a spike in rent increases around June 11, when the law, the FARE Act, took effect with a simple but transformative premise: Whoever enlists a broker's help should pay the broker's fee, which is often thousands of dollars. StreetEasy released a report about a month later saying that the law had not hurt the rental market. The company, which publicly supported the law in the face of fierce opposition from the real estate industry, acknowledged the surge in rent increases when The Times asked about it this week. 'There's no free lunch,' said Kenny Lee, a senior economist at StreetEasy. 'Landlords will always try to offset the additional cost by passing some of it to the renters as a higher base rent. They are not running a charity.' A sharp spike in rent increases The number of apartment listings each week since January 2023 with rent increases of 5 percent or more. Note: Counts include price increases during rental units' active listing windows. Source: New York Times analysis of StreetEasy data By Urvashi Uberoy Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Fox News
12-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Solar-powered robot zaps weeds without chemicals
Out in the California sun, a new kind of farmhand is hard at work. Powered by solar energy and guided by artificial intelligence, the solar-powered weeding robot for cotton fields is offering farmers a smarter and more sustainable way to tackle weeds. This technology is arriving just in time, as growers across the country face a shortage of available workers and weeds that are becoming increasingly resistant to herbicides. Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my Farmers everywhere are facing a tough reality. There simply aren't enough people willing to do the backbreaking work of weeding fields, and the weeds themselves are getting harder to kill with chemicals. Many farmers would rather avoid using herbicides, but until now, they haven't had a practical alternative. Kenny Lee, CEO of Aigen, puts it plainly: farmers don't love chemicals, but they use them because it's often the only tool available. Aigen's mission is to give them a better choice. Aigen's Element robot is designed to meet the real-world needs of modern agriculture. It runs entirely on solar power, which means farmers can save money on fuel while also reducing their environmental impact. The robot uses advanced AI and onboard cameras to spot and remove weeds with impressive accuracy, all without damaging the crops. Its rugged design allows it to handle rough terrain and changing weather, and it can work alongside other robots, communicating wirelessly to cover large fields efficiently. The Element robot isn't limited to cotton; it's also being used in soy and sugar beet fields, showing just how versatile this technology can be. At Bowles Farm in California's Central Valley, Element robots are already proving their worth. These robots are keeping cotton fields weed-free without the need for chemicals, freeing up workers to focus on more skilled tasks and helping farmers manage their operations more efficiently. The technology is not just a promise for the future. It's delivering real results today. Switching to solar-powered, AI-driven robots brings a host of benefits. Farmers no longer need to rely on herbicides, which leads to cleaner crops and healthier soil. Labor costs can drop since workers can shift from manual weeding to supervising and maintaining the robots. The robots also collect valuable data on crop health, pests and diseases, giving farmers better information to make decisions. And because the robots run on solar power, farms can reduce their carbon footprint while saving money on energy. Aigen's Element robot goes beyond being just another cool piece of technology. It really shows what can happen when farming and innovation come together. As more growers start using solar-powered robots like this, chemical-free fields are moving from wishful thinking to something we can actually achieve. Would you feel comfortable trusting a robot to handle important tasks and help shape the future of how we grow our food? Let us know by writing to us at Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy ReportGet my best tech tips, urgent security alerts and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you'll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide — free when you join my Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Malay Mail
06-07-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Sun-fuelled AI robots pull weeds in California farms as labour shortages, herbicide resistance grow
LOS BANOS (US), July 6 — Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds. As farms across the United States face a shortage of labourers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides, startup Aigen says its robotic solution — named Element — can save farmers money, help the environment and keep harmful chemicals out of food. 'I really believe this is the biggest thing we can do to improve human health,' co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Wurden told AFP, as robots made their way through crops at Bowles Farm in the town of Los Banos. 'Everybody's eating food sprayed with chemicals.' Wurden, a mechanical engineer who spent five years at Tesla, went to work on the robot after relatives who farm in Minnesota told him weeding was a costly bane. Weeds are becoming immune to herbicides, but a shortage of labourers often leaves chemicals as the only viable option, according to Wurden. 'No farmer that we've ever talked to said 'I'm in love with chemicals',' added Aigen co-founder and chief executive Kenny Lee, whose background is in software. 'They use it because it's a tool — we're trying to create an alternative.' Aigen's solar-powered autonomous AI robots called Element operates at Bowles Farm in Los Banos, California June 26, 2025. — AFP pic Element the robot resembles a large table on wheels, solar panels on top. Metal arms equipped with small blades reach down to hoe between crop plants. 'It actually mimics how humans work,' Lee said as the temperature hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) under a cloudless sky. 'When the sun goes down, it just powers down and goes to sleep; then in the morning it comes back up and starts going again.' The robot's AI system takes in data from on-board cameras, allowing it to follow crop rows and identify weeds. 'If you think this is a job that we want humans doing, just spend two hours in the field weeding,' Wurden said. Aigen's vision is for workers who once toiled in the heat to be 'upskilled' to monitor and troubleshoot robots. Along with the on-board AI, robots communicate wirelessly with small control centres, notifying handlers of mishaps. 'Future giant?' Aigen has robots running in tomato, cotton, and sugar beet fields, and touts the technology's ability to weed without damaging the crops. Lee estimated that it takes about five robots to weed 160 acres (65 hectares) of farm. The robots made by the 25-person startup — based in the city of Redmond, outside Seattle — are priced at US$50,000 (RM211,000). The company is focused on winning over politically conservative farmers with a climate friendly option that relies on the sun instead of costly diesel fuel that powers heavy machinery. Aigen CEO Kenny Lee stands for a photo while solar-powered autonomous AI robots ? called Element ? operate at Bowles Farm in Los Banos, California June 26, 2025. — AFP pic 'Climate, the word, has become politicised but when you get really down to brass tacks farmers care about their land,' Lee said. The technology caught the attention of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing unit. Aigen was chosen for AWS's 'Compute for Climate' fellowship programme that provides AI tools, data centre power, and technical help for startups tackling environmental woes. 'Aigen is going to be one of the industry giants in the future,' said AWS head of climate tech startups business development Lisbeth Kaufman. 'I think about Ford and the Model T, or Edison and the light bulb — that's Kenny and Rich and Aigen.' — AFP
Japan Times
06-07-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
AI robots fill in for weed killers and farm hands
Oblivious to the punishing midday heat, a wheeled robot powered by the sun and infused with artificial intelligence carefully combs a cotton field in California, plucking out weeds. As farms across the United States face a shortage of laborers and weeds grow resistant to herbicides, startup Aigen says its robotic solution — named Element — can save farmers money, help the environment and keep harmful chemicals out of food. "I really believe this is the biggest thing we can do to improve human health," co-founder and chief technology officer Richard Wurden said as robots made their way through crops at Bowles Farm in the town of Los Banos. "Everybody's eating food sprayed with chemicals." Wurden, a mechanical engineer who spent five years at Tesla, went to work on the robot after relatives who farm in Minnesota told him weeding was a costly problem. Weeds are becoming immune to herbicides, but a shortage of laborers often leaves chemicals as the only viable option, according to Wurden. "No farmer that we've ever talked to said 'I'm in love with chemicals,'" added Aigen co-founder and chief executive Kenny Lee, whose background is in software. "They use it because it's a tool — we're trying to create an alternative." Element the robot resembles a large table on wheels, solar panels on top. Metal arms equipped with small blades reach down to hoe between crop plants. "It actually mimics how humans work," Lee said as the temperature hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) under a cloudless sky. "When the sun goes down, it just powers down and goes to sleep; then in the morning it comes back up and starts going again." The robot's AI system takes in data from on-board cameras, allowing it to follow crop rows and identify weeds. "If you think this is a job that we want humans doing, just spend two hours in the field weeding," Wurden said. Aigen's vision is for workers who once toiled in the heat to be "upskilled" to monitor and troubleshoot robots. Along with the on-board AI, robots communicate wirelessly with small control centers, notifying handlers of mishaps. Aigen has robots running in tomato, cotton and sugar beet fields, and touts the technology's ability to weed without damaging the crops. Lee estimated that it takes about five robots to weed 160 acres (65 hectares) of farm. The robots made by the 25-person startup — based in the city of Redmond, outside Seattle — are priced at $50,000. The company is focused on winning over politically conservative farmers with a climate friendly option that relies on the sun instead of costly diesel fuel that powers heavy machinery. "Climate, the word, has become politicized but when you get really down to brass tacks farmers care about their land," Lee said. The technology caught the attention of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the e-commerce giant's cloud computing unit. Aigen was chosen for AWS's "Compute for Climate" fellowship program that provides AI tools, data center power, and technical help for startups tackling environmental woes. "Aigen is going to be one of the industry giants in the future," said AWS head of climate tech startups business development Lisbeth Kaufman. "I think about Ford and the Model T, or Edison and the light bulb — that's Kenny and Rich and Aigen."
