Replacing manual labor and herbicides with laser solutions, agricultural robot company Azure Engine secures angel investment from Sinan Navigation | Exclusive report by Hardcore Kr

Author: Ou Xue

Editor: Yuan Silai

Yingke learned that Weilan Engine (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Weilan Engine"), an enterprise focusing on precision agricultural robots, announced the completion of an angel - round financing. The investor in this round is Sinan Navigation. The financing funds will be mainly used for the R & D and upgrading of the company's products, mass production, the construction of factories and production lines, as well as market expansion and layout work, to accelerate the large - scale application of laser weeding robots in the agricultural field.

Zhao Zhiwu, the founder and CEO of the company, told Yingke that Sinan Navigation and "Weilan Engine" had established a strategic cooperation relationship in the field of smart agriculture before. Sinan Navigation's investment this time will further strengthen the collaborative development of both parties in the main directions of smart agriculture, such as agricultural robots, unmanned farms, and agricultural machinery autopilot.

Founded in 2022, "Weilan Engine" is the first domestic company focusing on the R & D of laser weeding robots. It is also the only domestic enterprise whose core technical indicators meet the commercial operation standards and has relevant patented technologies. The company is committed to replacing chemical herbicides and manual weeding with laser technology, providing intelligent and automated precision physical weeding solutions.

Currently, "Weilan Engine" has launched two products, the "Field Laser Weeding Robot" and the "Small Laser Weeding Robot", which are suitable for large - scale field planting, greenhouse, and small - farm scenarios respectively, and are expected to be officially launched in the market in November this year. Its technology can be used in the cultivation of Chinese herbal medicines, organic vegetables, export vegetables, high - quality forage, etc., meeting the requirements of agricultural scenarios with strict weeding operations.

(Schematic diagram of Weilan Engine's field laser weeding robot)

(Schematic diagram of Weilan Engine's small laser weeding robot)

Driven by the national strategies of "revitalizing agriculture through science and technology" and "artificial intelligence + agriculture", the green agricultural equipment market has ushered in a development opportunity worth hundreds of billions. Institutional data shows that the domestic demand scale of weeding robots has reached 299,000 units, worth 89.59 billion yuan; the overseas market also has great potential, with a demand scale of about 204,000 units, worth about 102 billion US dollars.

In the agricultural weeding market, Zhao Zhiwu said that the industry still faces multiple pain points: high labor costs and low efficiency; difficult weeding at the seedling stage; over - reliance on herbicides that damage the soil ecology; existing weeding equipment is likely to damage crops and farmland infrastructure, and has relatively high requirements for sowing standardization, etc.

Therefore, "Weilan Engine" chose laser technology to enter the agricultural weeding market. Yingke learned that laser is one of the actuator solutions with the highest precision in the industrial field, featuring non - mechanical contact, low delay, fast rhythm, and low cost. Thanks to decades of application in the industrial field, China's laser industry chain is already very mature and leading internationally.

Zhao Zhiwu introduced to Yingke that each laser emits a precise dose of laser according to the category and size of each weed. The thermal energy of the laser is used to precisely destroy the apical meristem of the weed. At the same time, the water inside the weed cells is instantly heated to boiling, cooking the inside of the weed. Eventually, the weed withers, dies, and is re - absorbed by the soil.

"The laser hovers above the crop surface without contacting the soil, which brings many advantages: compared with conventional agricultural machinery, it reduces the R & D demand for profiling; it has a wide weeding range - between rows, between plants, near the seedlings, at the bottom of the ridge, on the ridge surface, and on the ridge side; it has stronger adaptability - it can be used for crops sown by spot - sowing, drill - sowing, and broadcast - sowing; it has a lower seedling - damage rate; it can also effectively reduce the damage to field facilities such as drip - irrigation belts." Zhao Zhiwu said.

(Display of the weeding effect of Weilan Engine's robot: the laser precisely acts on the apical meristem of the weed)

(Display of the weeding effect of Weilan Engine's robot: the damage effect of high - energy laser on weeds)

From the perspective of core technology, Zhao Zhiwu introduced that during the patrol process, the intelligent laser weeding robot can operate day and night; during the identification process, relying on the visual AI algorithm, the robot can accurately identify weeds among crops within a few milliseconds; during the weeding process, a single high - efficiency laser module can eliminate more than 120,000 weeds per hour.

In addition, laser weeding robots also have significant cost advantages. Zhao Zhiwu said that currently, the cost of manual weeding is relatively high, with an average of about 200 to 300 yuan per mu. With the development of technology and commercialization, the cost of laser weeding is expected to be reduced to 20% to 30% of manual weeding - that is, 40 - 60 yuan per mu.

"Our sales performance target for next year is about 20 million yuan." Zhao Zhiwu revealed that the company has accumulated a certain amount of customer resources and received procurement intentions from large farms, cooperatives, agricultural production companies, agricultural service companies, etc.

Zhao Zhiwu further said that in the short term, the company focuses on the weeding business, plans to expand the product categories of laser weeding, launch segmented products for different scenarios, and focus on exploring the domestic and international agricultural weeding markets. In the future, the company will also consider entering other precision agricultural robot fields. The company will be committed to promoting the development of sustainable agriculture through AI + robot technology.

Views of the investor:

Sinan Navigation said: "Agricultural robots are an important track in the field of future smart agriculture and also a national strategic development direction, driven by both policies and the market. Weilan Engine is one of the earliest domestic enterprises engaged in the commercialization of precision agricultural robots and has taken the lead in making breakthroughs in the field of laser weeding robots. The laser weeding robot is a major revolutionary and innovative application of artificial intelligence in the field of agricultural plant protection. Weilan Engine has reached the international advanced level in this product direction. Sinan Navigation is one of the earliest domestic enterprises engaged in the R & D of agricultural autopilot solutions and has been firmly promoting the development of smart agriculture. We believe that agricultural robots will become the next strategic growth pole in the agricultural machinery market. With the development and maturity of the agricultural robot market, Weilan Engine is expected to form a core competitive barrier in the field of agricultural physical weeding with its ability of rapid commercial implementation and accurate understanding of scenarios, and become an important force in promoting the development of China's smart agriculture."