Ideal site selection is critical to get the maximum amount return on investment for usage of autonomous mowing.
Ideal site selection is critical to get the maximum amount return on investment for usage of autonomous mowing. Remember that a crew member will mow the outer boundary, and then turn on Autonomous Mowing to let the robotic worker stripe the inner area. While the mower cuts autonomously, the crew can manually address any detailed areas (flower beds, edges).
Ideal properties include athletic / sports fields,
large flat turf areas,
warehouses,
military bases,
fields, and
office parks, parks, or HOA common areas
No small residential properties with tiny yards, fences, or accent lawns. No slopes of any degree (the flatter the better). No long, thin areas such as medians, or highly populated areas with people/cars nearby. Avoid areas with tall, thick grass that are difficult for the mulching-kit equipped Greenzie mower to cut.
The reason these are not a good fit is that while the mower does great on slopes under normal manual operation (with a person on it), Autonomous Mowing currently doesn’t turn properly on slopes. Future updates will improve performance, but for now, we recommend just manually mowing sloped areas. Bottom line: if the mower has to do lots of complicated shapes and go around lots of things, a human can do it faster (for now).
Don’t mow on top of a slope and near a sidewalk, the ideal boundary is below.
Set the boundary below the start of the slope.
Minor slopes that mower follows down are OK at low speeds.
Map the field, avoid soccer goals, and do the slope manually.
Keep boundary well inside trees.
Greenzie can identify some obstacles during autonomous striping and mow around them. Greenzie is unlikely to detect short obstacles (ex: drains, sprinkler boxes, tree roots, traffic cones, and mulch beds) and thin obstacles (ex: poles, benches from certain directions).
Bad sites include:
Too many trees
Sites with dirt mounds, unless flattened before mowing
Roadway medians
Sites with tall thick grass for mulching kit (used for safety and to not affect or obstacle detection with discharged grass).
While the mower is mowing, ideally, the crew is doing finishing work: edging, weeding, blowing, or using a push mower or additional mower for accent pieces, strips, and other areas.
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