A team of Cornell undergraduates has taken the grand prize at the Farm Robotics Challenge, beating 95 competing teams with an autonomous robot that kills weeds using electricity rather than herbicides.
Led by Andrew James, an agricultural sciences major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the four-person team built a working prototype over four months. The robot navigates vineyards and orchards without a human operator, delivering a targeted electric shock to unwanted plants. The approach saves labor, reduces energy use, and prevents crop loss while eliminating the need for chemical herbicides.
The $50,000 grand prize is now seeding a new company. James and his co-founders have incorporated Rootline Robotics and will operate out of an incubator run by agricultural technology firm Reservoir in Sonoma, California. The team includes Natalia Kurz as research lead and Michael Neiss as chief technology officer, both engineering undergraduates.
The problem they are solving is real and costly. Organic growers currently rely on string trimming, mowing, and mulching to control weeds, all of which are labor-intensive. Existing electric weeders require an operator and cost around $150,000 on average, a price point that puts them out of reach for most growers. Rootline's robot is designed to be autonomous and significantly more affordable.
Steve Selin, owner of South Hill Cider in Ithaca, advised the students during development and plans to trial the technology on his own property. "In May and June, if you could do something to knock the weeds back enough that they're not going to compete with the trees, then the rest of the year you wouldn't have to worry about it," he said. He added that controlled weed suppression, rather than total elimination, can actually benefit soil health by shading the ground and supporting microbial ecosystems.
The interdisciplinary nature of the project was central to its success. The team drew on expertise in biological engineering, software, mechanical and electrical engineering, and agricultural science. They received mentorship from the Ag Robotics Lab at Cornell, led by Professor Manoj Karkee.
The Farm Robotics Challenge victory puts Rootline in a growing cohort of university-born ag-tech startups. With Reservoir's incubator support and a clear market need, the team is now focused on refining the technology and validating it with growers before a broader rollout. James has long been interested in building a startup in the ag-robotics space, and the competition win gave him the validation and capital to make it happen while still finishing his degree.
For the broader agricultural industry, the win signals that the next generation of farming automation may come from university labs rather than established equipment manufacturers. As labor shortages persist and input costs rise, small, nimble robotics teams could reshape how crops are managed at the ground level.