AUTONOMOUS MOWERS
What changes when the robots arrive?
When any business implements new machinery, that business begins to change. I asked Langton and Baum to outline how autonomy changes a landscape business.“ In the short-term? They set their business apart from the 700,000 other people doing it just the normal way. It’ s an instant marketing hit,” said Langton.“ No one paid attention when they did a nice mulch job, but they’ re going to put a robot out on a property, it could be any robot and people are going to be excited.”
Companies that implement stay-on-site robotic mowers for residential or commercial accounts will also notice, according to Langton, that rain does not interrupt work.“ When there’ s a couple days of rain, they’ re going to notice the robotic mowers have no issue, no environmental pressure,” he said,“ which is going to make them want to buy more stay-on-site robots.”
Baum has also noticed reduced pressure, but from happy customers who don’ t need to contact him.“ If you do the installation properly, you won’ t hear from that customer again until the fall. I learned that early,” he said.
The first generation of on-site robotic mowers required in-ground wires to define a mowing perimeter. Those wires were problematic. New robots use satellites for mapping, no wires. The technology is far superior to boundary-wire versions but still requires a thoughtful installation.
“ If the install is improper, you’ re going to hear from the customer within the first week or two,” said Baum.“ And if you don’ t make those corrections right away, you’ re going to be dealing with them all year long. A lot is predicated on installing it properly and knowing the limitations of the mower.” Yes, robots and autonomous mowers are efficient workers but they will not do 100 % of the work.“ I’ ve come to realize that you’ re better off if the robot does 90 % of the yard and not have a hiccup instead of trying to do 100 % of the yard with the robot.” Don’ t expect the robotic mower to cut right up to the edging perfectly.“ The homeowner can do their own trimming. And I’ ll sell the robotic mower with a string trimmer,” said Baum.
The landscape businesses that closely track labor costs – and that should be all of them – are
Robotic mowers will help landscapers instantly set themselves apart from other businesses, said Langton.
going to see“ a reduced cost of their overall labor for lawn maintenance,” said Greenzie’ s CBQ.“ If they don’ t, they should return the autonomous mower. Take it back because we need to get it in the hands of someone who will reduce labor costs. They’ re going to be more productive, more efficient and safer, and this translates into lower overall labor costs. That’ s number one. That’ s all we focus on.”
Going back to CBQ’ s three-step guide to autonomous deployment for a business, these machines will change the way a landscaper bids on work.“ Now they have reliability in the form of robotic workers. They have someone who will mow as much as they want. They may go after bigger jobs, better bid quality, because they know what their labor rates are going to be. We see a lot of that.” Smaller lawn maintenance jobs may get moved out of a business plan, or sub-contracted to others.
“ One of our customers has essentially created an autonomous mowing crew,” said Kubista of RC Mowers.“ They’ re not integrating an autonomous mower into a traditional mowing crew, but more so focusing on the large open areas or the large job sites and then creating a route based on those sites. You can measure how much automatable turf or how much acreage an autonomous mower can do within a portfolio. That allows a business to maximize the utilization of the autonomy. And that’ s just one of the best practices.”
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