We pair AI vision with lasers, starting with weeding and extending to pruning and root sucker removal.
Research internships, fall 2026Laser weeding already works on vegetable farms. Independent university trials found that it controls common broadleaf weeds as well as herbicides do, without chemicals. In orchards and vineyards, crews still keep the tree row clear with herbicide strips, mowing and hand labor.
The same platform, aimed at the hand work that costs growers the most.
Dormant pruning is one of the largest labor costs in orchards and vineyards: about $1,400 an acre in Central Coast apples and $1,900 in San Joaquin Valley table grapes, by UC Davis estimates. Machines can hedge a row, but the selective cuts are still made by hand, one plant at a time.
Suckers are shoots that sprout from the trunk base or the roots and pull growth away from the tree or vine. Crews remove them by hand or with tractor-mounted whips, sometimes several times a season. In Napa wine grapes, hand suckering costs about $600 an acre, by UC Davis estimates.
Examples of labor and treatment costs reported for different California crops and study years, from the UC Davis cost and return studies. They show scale, not a side-by-side comparison.
| Job | Crop and study | Per acre |
|---|---|---|
| Dormant pruning (hand work) | Table grapes, southern San Joaquin Valley, 2018 | $1,906* |
| Pruning (hand work) | Apples, Central Coast, 2023 | $1,397 |
| Hand suckering (hand work) | Wine grapes, Napa County, 2020 | $608 |
| Chemical weed control (context) | Wine grapes, Napa County, 2020 | $238 |
Weeding is the smallest of the three costs today. It is also the job where laser systems are already proven in the field, so that is where we start. The hand-labor cost is in pruning and sucker removal.
* Includes $360 per acre of tying materials.
Sources: UC Davis Cost and Return Studies: apples, Central Coast, 2023; table grapes, southern San Joaquin Valley, 2018; wine grapes, Napa County, 2020. Weeding trial results: Sosnoskie et al., 2025, Cornell and Rutgers field trials.
JP Robotics is led by a Silicon Valley investor with years of experience running orchards in California, working with a small early team in the Bay Area.
JP Robotics is incubated at the California Science and Technology University Startup Center.
CSTU Startup CenterWe are hiring research and analysis interns for fall 2026: market research, cost models and competitor analysis. Engineering roles will follow as the team grows.
Bay Area, hybrid at the CSTU Startup Center in Milpitas, or remote.
Send a resume and a short introduction to
careers@jprobotics.org