Autonomous mowing technology continues to evolve
This article appeared in the November 2024 edition of Chicago District Golfer.
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As a teenager, I had six lawns that I cut weekly with a 20-inch-wide push mower. Each week as I mowed those lawns, I thought about two things - getting more lawns to cut and how can I do them quicker. Fortunately, my uncle found a used lawn mower that he repaired, and I bought it from him. With a larger, faster mower, I added four larger lawns to my business!
Golf course superintendents have the same issue – how to get more work done while reducing resources.
Many companies today are trying to solve that problem; how more grass can be cut, efficiently, effectively and sustainably. That leads us to autonomous mowing. An autonomous mower is a machine that may require a human for transport and/or setup, but does not require an operator to perform the mowing.
These machines have been rapidly changing since their inception 20-plus years ago. Traditional providers have been bringing out new products and totally new providers have entered the market from other areas, such as agriculture.
Autonomous mowers come in different styles. Two will be mentioned here – rotary-style are small mowers with a plastic disk that is outfitted with as few as three razor-blade cutting units. They weigh 30-150 pounds. The other style – reel mowers – are the more traditional mower we are used to seeing on our golf courses.
Autonomous rotary mowers, once properly installed, will only stop working when they return to their charging stations or have an alarm condition. Mower blades last from three days to two weeks depending on turf conditions. One course reported saving more than 80% in annual fairway maintenance costs (labor, fuel, parts and service).
Autonomous reel mowers have been evolving rapidly. At a recent professional tournament, the course’s 60 acres of fairways were maintained by a fleet of four mowers (100-inch-wide, 5 gang reel mowers). The mowers were able to mow all 18 fairways in just four-and-a-half hours each night.
To summarize, the benefits of autonomous mowing are:
• Consistency of mowing, improving turf conditions and course quality
• 24/7 mowing capability – increasing operation and scheduling flexibility
• Programmability of the mowers
• Cost effective with lower emissions and reduced fuel and maintenance cost
• Reduced noise levels for quieter operations
• Smart technology can provide remote monitoring, mower controls and performance updates
• Labor can be redirected to other maintenance tasks
Autonomous mowing does have some drawbacks, however:
• Mower costs – the range is about $6,000 to $200,000 for various mowers and options
• Quality cut of rotary-style mowers; will it be comparable to a well-adjusted reel mower?
The changes in the autonomous mowing world have been quickly evolving. The use of these machines has the potential to change turf quality, impact pests and potentially fertilization methods, aerification and verticutting.
Scott Coldiron is a CDGA Governor and a member of the CDGA Green – Education Committee. He has been a CDGA Blue Coat since 2015.