Growing the business of autonomous mowing through high precision GNSS solutions

In commercial landscaping, finding and keeping good workers is an ongoing challenge. Finding innovative ways to overcome labor challenges has opened the door for autonomous robot mowing solutions. Regardless of who mows the lawn, be it a human or a robot, customers still expect a high-quality job.

Greenzie relies on u-blox high precision GNSS modules and augmentation service in combination with their software and off-the-shelf sensors to add self-driving to commercial mowers. Bringing innovative answers to the labor difficulties of the landscaping industry, while transforming today’s manually operated commercial mowers into tomorrow’s autonomous robotic mowers.  

Challenge #1: In commercial landscaping, good workers are hard to find. 

If you are familiar with commercial landscaping, you know that finding and keeping good employees is frequently cited as an ongoing challenge for the industry. Lawn care projects can be physically demanding and are seasonal in nature. In low unemployment economic conditions, finding good workers in a competitive market becomes even more difficult. Labor shortages impact the ability to grow any business, and commercial mowing is no exception. Finding innovative ways to overcome labor challenges has opened the door for autonomous robot mowing solutions.  

Challenge #2: The autonomous solution needs to be reliable, secure, and accurate. 

Regardless of who mows the lawn, be it a human or a robot, customers still expect a high-quality job. They want an aesthetically pleasing back-and-forth striped mowing pattern. To accomplish this, the cut pattern needs to be precise. Precise cuts are also the most time efficient. Workers need to be reliable and show up for the job, on time, every time. For an autonomous robot mowing solution to meet these criteria, it must include a robust RTK-PPP GNSS correction service.   

The solution: Greenzie determined that the most effective way to grow its mowing business was by combining ruggedized sensors and robust autonomous guidance software, unlocking the mass market for high precision GNSS applications.

As a software company that combines a love for autonomous things with enthusiasm for landscaping, Greenzie has integrated its software and off-the-shelf sensors into a solution that adds self-driving capabilities to commercial mowers.  

Greenzie provides their partners, leading outdoor power equipment manufacturers, with a complete solution that includes the robotic software stack and necessary hardware to enable safe autonomous mowing operation for their customers, who are typically landscaping companies. The kit, which leverages u-blox F9P high precision GNSS modules and PointPerfect, the u-blox GNSS augmentation service, upgrades existing zero-turn commercial mowers into self-driving machines.  

By partnering with u-blox, Greenzie is bringing the landscaping industry to the mass market age of high precision positioning autonomous machines. 

Solution benefits: 

• Centimeter-level accuracy and convergence within seconds
• 99.9% uptime availability via both internet and L-band satellite communication
• Secure API provisioning via the easy-to-use Thingstream IoT service delivery platform  
• Simple, predictable pricing plans with options to suit the needs of your growing fleet

Image credit: Luke Beard 

Outcome #1: Commercial landscapers can rely on robotic workers to reduce labor shortages and grow their businesses. 

Autonomous mowing eases the strain of labor shortages in landscaping. A three-person crew can become a two-person crew. This frees humans from monotonous back-and-forth mowing to simultaneously complete other more complex gardening tasks. Landscapers save money and grow their market share beyond traditional labor constraints.

Outcome #2: OEMs can transform their existing fleets into self-driving mowers with innovative high precision autonomous machine solutions.  

Commercial mower original equipment manufacturers have come to recognize the power of Greenzie’s Robotic Ready™ autonomy upgrade: Existing fleets of zero-turn mowers can be transformed into autonomous mowers while retaining the traditional attributes OEM customers expect: cut quality, deck fabrication, and drivability.