SmartFarm Robotics beats weeds with intelligence, not herbicides
Bulgarian startup introduces a lightweight, AI-powered weeding robot for the age of climate-stressed agriculture
Published on November 30, 2025
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
At StartLife’s 15th anniversary celebration in Ede, eleven pioneering agrifoodtech startups took the stage to show how science and entrepreneurship can reshape the future of food. From smarter biostimulants and energy-efficient farming robots to next-generation proteins and nutrient innovations, each team presented a bold solution to one of the world’s most urgent challenges: feeding a growing population within planetary limits. In this IO+ series, we highlight their stories; not just the technologies they’re building, but also their vision and the advice they received from the expert panels. Today, we focus on SmartFarm Robotics.
When Rossen Kolev took the stage at StartLife’s Demo Day in Ede, he opened with a joke that immediately broke the tension: “I’d like to talk to you today about weed, but sorry, not the funny type.” The audience laughed, but Kolev quickly got serious. “When a farmer sees this on their land,” he said, showing an image of tangled vegetation, “they’re not laughing at all. Trust me.”
The next slide showed the same field, neatly lined with healthy crops. “That’s my field, a few years ago,” he added. “So I know what I’m talking about.”
For most farmers, weeds are more than an inconvenience; they are a constant threat to yield and a major driver of chemical dependency in agriculture. “Of course, farmers know how to tackle weeds,” Kolev continued. “Some use herbicides, but you’ve all seen this sign on the packaging,” he said, pointing to a skull-and-crossbones warning label. “It’s dangerous for your health.”
A problem rooted in old habits
Chemical herbicides aren’t just toxic; they’re also losing effectiveness as weeds evolve resistance. Mechanical weeding, meanwhile, comes with its own environmental cost. “Those clouds of dust you see when plowing? That’s not just soil, that’s fuel exhaust too,” Kolev explained. “And it tells you how good it is for the soil and the environment.”
The last remaining alternative, manual weeding, is even worse. Kolev showed a photo of workers hunched over in the sun. “This is what it looks like,” he said. “Hard, monotonous, low-paid work. Often dangerous for your health. Guess how many people want to do that for a living?”
A smarter, safer way to weed
SmartFarm Robotics was born out of this frustration. “There are robotic weeders on the market,” Kolev said, “but most of them burn plants, using lasers, electric shocks, or even gas burners. They’re heavy, expensive, and not suitable for the changing conditions we face today.”
As climate change dries out farmland and hardens soils, traditional solutions struggle to keep up. “More and more often, we see fields like this,” he said, showing an image of dry, cracked ground. “That’s the climate change effect. We believe this calls for a new type of weeding solution.”
The company’s answer is a compact, lightweight, low-cost robot that uses a focused energy beam to selectively destroy weeds, not by burning them, but by disrupting their vital processes. “It’s safe, scalable, and poses no fire hazard,” Kolev explained. “The weeds wither and die within three to five days of treatment.”
Powered by an integrated battery and solar panel, the robot can operate autonomously even in regions with harsh sunlight and irregular terrain. “It’s easy to handle and can work in rocky, dry soils: places where heavy machines would get stuck,” Kolev said.
Southern Europe first
Although SmartFarm Robotics has European ambitions, Kolev made it clear that his startup’s roots and first market lie in Southern Europe. “We’re based in Bulgaria,” he said. “Naturally, we focus on Southern Europe as a beachhead market because we believe there’s huge untapped potential there. Our technology is perfectly suited for the challenges farmers face in this region: drought, heat, and hard soil.”
Still, he admitted, this regional focus has raised eyebrows among potential investors. “We talk to investors who say they are ‘Europe-wide,’ and they ask, ‘Why not start in my home country, say, the Netherlands?’ So how do we solve this dilemma?”
“What’s wrong with Bulgaria?”
The panelists didn’t hesitate to respond. “If you’re convinced Bulgaria is the right place to start,” one said, “what’s wrong with it? You start with one market, and you won’t stay in Bulgaria forever. You’ll expand, you’ll scale up. If there’s value added there, explain that to your investors.”
Another panelist added, “You’re competing in a crowded field; I’ve seen many weeding robots, but no real breakthrough yet. Maybe you have the right idea to finally make that breakthrough. So instead of defending yourself, show investors why your approach and your location make sense.”
Others encouraged Kolev to seek strategic partnerships or investors already active in his target markets. “Sometimes the problem isn’t your geography,” one said. “It’s the investor’s mandate. Many funds can only invest in specific countries. So build your network where your customers are, even if that takes extra effort.”
Kolev nodded. “Actually, next week I’m in Greece, and the week after in Malta,” he said with a smile. “So yes, we’re already doing that.”
Focus and conviction
The session ended with a short technical question from the audience: how exactly does the robot’s energy beam work? “It’s not a laser,” Kolev clarified. “It doesn’t burn the weeds. It disturbs their vital processes, and they wither within days.”
The design includes a battery-powered drive system and a solar panel for energy capture, crucial for operation in remote fields. “And yes,” Kolev confirmed, “we can add more batteries if necessary.”
Kolev’s final image lingered: a field once choked with weeds, now lined with healthy, thriving plants. “We’re not fighting weeds with fire or chemicals,” he said earlier. “We’re fighting them with intelligence.” In a world where both food security and environmental health depend on the same patch of soil, that intelligence might just make all the difference.
15 years Startlife
Read about all the startups that were part of StartLife’s 15th anniversary Demo Day.