Save time and automate your yard work with the robotic lawn mower

With traditional mowing, your lawn grows tall before being cut off all at once. By contrast, robotic lawn mower is a mulching mower that clips just a little grass at a time, frequently. The result is a lawn that’s always picture-perfect and fertilized naturally by tiny, mulched clippings. 

The academic garden in the campus area of the Faculty of Horticulture is divided into grassy areas, flower beds and strip plantings of ornamental shrubs. Lawn areas of up to 1 300 m² are the most difficult to maintain. The space is divided and a bowling green with a slope of 70% (35 °) incline is located right in the middle of the garden. Slopes with an incline greater than 12 ° can only be mowed with slope variants of mowers and their maintenance is more time and operator consuming. When driving the classic mower along a slope, the lawn may be either scalped or not properly mowed at break points. When driving on the contour, there is a risk of engine damage due to insufficient lubrication and sliding of the machine on a slope. This problem was solved by using a robotic mower, acquired by The Institute of Horticultural Technology in 2019.

Used model can handle area up to 3,000 m2. The machine is designed as a self-propelled with a battery drive. The articulated design to reduce the turning radius and compensate for uneven terrain and all-wheel drive allow optimal movement of the machine while maintaining the cutting height. The working device consists of a rotor with a cutting width of 20 cm fitted with three briefly attached pivoting blades  on both sides. The principle of mowing is the constant separation of small growths of grasses (1 - 3 mm), which fall to the surface, where they subsequently decompose. This is mowing without collecting the cut material. As it decomposes, the mowed grass can reduce the consumption of fertilizers by a third to a half. The movement of the robotic mower is monitored by a GPS system, which helps to map the maintained area. During the season, the machine is able to predict places with more intense growth, which it cuts more often. Setting and control of the robot is enabled by mobile app. The lawn area is bounded by a wire to which robot can approach to a certain distance, depending on the settings. Two guide wires are routed through the centre of the grass to help the robot return to the charging station. Robot has sensors on its cover, which monitor the area in front of it and can thus mow up to a distance of 10 cm from the obstacle (solitary trees, broken edges of flower beds, small areas, stair treads). Mowing is programmed in the garden from 7:00 to 18:00, at night the lawn is irrigated. The robot travels on the surface for about one hour, then charges for about two hours. This cycle repeats 4 times during the day and the entire area is mowed in about three days.

Robot consists of sensors that help to avoid obstacles (radar and pressure sensors) as well as protection of the cutting deck when lifting the machine or unprofessional manipulation by unauthorized persons. Theft protection is ensured by constant monitoring of the built-in GPS and GSM system, protection against lifting, sound signalization with alarm and PIN code. The robot can be brought into operation only by a certified distributor, so it is not possible to reuse it or sell it for spare parts after it has been stolen. The technology of autonomous robots appears in the field of ornamental horticulture, as well as public administration and communal services. The good example is the deployment of mowing robots on representative areas of cities. The know-how and experience with the operation and installation of robotic mowers will increase the competitiveness of students of The Faculty of Horticulture in the labour market.

The acquisition was realized as part of the project the Institutional Plan MENDELU 2019−2020 - category B, Contact person Ing. Vladimír Mašán, Ph.D.