Two engineering students built a robot that zaps weeds with lasers instead of spraying them

Weeding is one of the highest hidden costs in Indian farming.

By the founder's estimate, a farmer can spend around Rs 15,000 each time, three or four times a season, and the cheaper option, spraying chemical herbicides, harms the soil and the people doing the spraying.

According to the ICAR-Directorate of Weed Research, a government body, weeds cost Indian agriculture an estimated $11 billion a year.

, a Hyderabad startup, offers a third option: a robot that burns weeds with lasers, leaving both the crop and the soil chemistry untouched.

Each usual fix carries a cost.