Obviously the Rotax 912 is (partly) water cooled so there's coolant available to heat the carb bodies. On an air-cooled Lycosaurus you would need a different solution.
This stops ice forming on the air intakes
Actually, it doesn't. Ice can still form due to the venturi effect and the evaporation of the fuel. But ice can't stick to the carb walls anymore. Either it contacts the carb walls and melts, or is sucked into the engine itself. Both of which are harmless.
Other solution is the injected engine. This will have the Carburetor remove and there is no change of Carb Ice.
Another issue is that the carb heat mechanism also ensures that the intake air bypasses the air filter, thus enabling an alternative air intake path when the air filter is clogged up (for instance by impact ice). That's why you try to minimize carb heat application on the ground - the unfiltered air might have sand particles or other foreign matter in it that's been thrown up by the prop blast. You could of course decouple the carb heat and alternate air intake functionality, but that would mean you'd get another lever in the cockpit.