Nexus Robotics Inc.
Canadian agtech startup whose La Chevre robot pulls weeds by the root with delta-arm grippers, guided by AI vision and RTK-GPS, around the clock.
Nexus Robotics Inc. is a Canadian agricultural robotics company that builds autonomous weeding robots for vegetable growers. According to Future Farming and the company's own account in a 2023 podcast interview, it was started in 2017 by three young Canadian entrepreneurs. One of them had run an organic vegetable farm and was tired of weeding by hand. The startup was founded in Nova Scotia, where in 2020 it was described as a Halifax-based manufacturer, and later moved its base to Montreal, Quebec. A startup profile on Gust lists a founding date of May 2017 and a Montreal location. Teric Greenan is named as founder and chief operating officer in a federal government release, and agronomist Luc Labbe, who has a background in grain trading, has been listed as CEO.
The company's robot is La Chevre (French for the goat), earlier code-named R2-Weed2. It is a self-driving field machine that physically removes weeds instead of spraying herbicide, cultivating or using lasers. Cameras and depth sensors scan the crop rows, and a neural network separates crop plants from weeds at all growth stages. Several RTK-GPS receivers give the machine its position and heading, and a SLAM process builds a map of plant coordinates. Robotic arms with delta mechanisms and grippers, described in Farmtario's reporting as mechanical fingers, reach down and pull each weed out with its roots, including weeds growing right beside the crop. The company says this disturbs the soil less than cultivation and handles slightly larger weeds than laser or tine systems. Nexus reported that 2020 field tests removed more than 95 percent of weeds.
La Chevre runs around the clock. It is a diesel-electric hybrid in which a diesel engine charges the battery that powers its electric drive, and one tank of fuel lasts about three days. Farmtario reported in August 2024 that the machines average about five acres per 24 hours and compared their size and shape to a Zamboni. By then six units had been built, three of which were working on lettuce in California. Trials have focused on leafy crops such as lettuce and spinach, including in-field demonstrations in the Holland Marsh vegetable district of Ontario in July 2024. In a February 2023 interview, Labbe said the third hardware generation was in commercial use, that six units were in service, and that La Chevre had been a finalist for a robot of the year award. Future Farming's 2022 robot listing gave a price of 500,000 US dollars to buy or 50,000 US dollars per growing season to lease.
Nexus has relied on public innovation funding. In September 2020 the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) announced 550,000 Canadian dollars through its Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program. This comprised a 500,000 dollar repayable contribution for field trials, product design, manufacturing design and commercialization, and a 50,000 dollar non-repayable contribution to hire a chief executive. After the move to Quebec, the Quebec government announced more than 850,000 dollars for a project to improve the robot's performance. The company presents its technology as a way for growers to cut pesticide use and reduce their dependence on scarce seasonal hand-weeding labour, and it plans to add an AI farm-management tool built on the crop data the robot collects.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Company Facts
Founded
2017
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
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Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
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Funding Total
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