Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Zero weed robot

 Thermonuclear fusion energy powered autonomous untethered unguided annihilator mounted vehicle for control of alien vegetation in decorative grass monoculture area
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My alarm clock broke, so I was early at work today. As I dawdled past the recently reseeded front lawn I noticed people pulling tufts up. Apparently some unwanted plants had gotten in and they were in doing a morning stint getting rid of them before the sun got too hot.

This is just the job for a robot. The ZWR will patrol the area, looking at each blade of grass and leaf through a multispectral sensor. If the readings do not match a set of templates (for young, mature & senile leaves) it deploys a parbolic mirror or a convex lens, focusing the sun's rays to kill that weed. It will be powered by solar panels. No batteries. It cannot work when the sun is behind a cloud anyway.

For StarChaser, a bolt-on attachment has two arms, one having a comb and the other, clippers. Periodically the length of the grass is tested and the excess cut back to leave an interesting pattern, programmed by buried bar magnets.

—neelandan, Feb 16 2002

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       Alas, you must kill the root.
—phoenix, Feb 16 2002
   

       Oh yes, back-from-the-ashes bird. Heating an area of soil does kill the roots within.
—neelandan, Feb 16 2002
   

       isn't the broad leaf weedkiller cheaper, I was hoping this was something that cut the grass. croissant anyway for thought, spelling and well just because....
—po, Feb 16 2002
   

       No reason it oculdn't cut grass too. Large fresnel lenses are cheap and can melt asphalt on a good sunny day...
—StarChaser, Feb 16 2002
   

       If you have a robot you don't need to kill the root - just trim the leaf. I don't care if I have weed roots if I can't see or smell them. Eventually the roots will die from lack of sunlight anyway.
—tolly3, Feb 16 2002
   

       not a gardener, obviously, tolly3.
—po, Feb 17 2002
   

       SC: Cutting grass would need to be done using shears. A bolt-on attachment added, at your request.
—neelandan, Feb 18 2002
   
      
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