making turf matter
ROBOTS
www.turfmatters.co.uk
The robots are coming e ! r e a h er
Garden machinery manufacturers, including Stiga, have been reporting continuous growth in robotic lawnmowers sales over the past few years within the UK, but robotic mowers are not a new concept, they have been available for over 20 years, and in some markets across Europe they are very much the norm – in fact every third lawnmower sold in Sweden is now a robot. The majority of robotic mowers including the Stiga Autoclip, work with an electronic wire being buried around the outside perimeter of the lawn and any obstacles you wish the mower to avoid, this wire is connected to a docking station and then to a standard electrical socket, creating a circuit for the mower to operate within. This set up process should be carried out by your local robot specialist, Stiga has over 400 retailers within the UK, and your local dealer can be found by visiting stigalawnmowers.co.uk
Why the sudden interest? As a society we are getting busier and the weather is
getting more unpredictable, we are also more trusting to technological aids around the home, robotic vacuum cleaners are tried and tested, and voice search engine aids such as the Amazon Alexia are now not uncommon in our homes. The advances in battery technology enable these garden assistants to cover larger areas in shorter periods of time, making them a viable option for larger properties or indeed commercial businesses.
The Stiga Autoclip range The Autoclip mowers can run any time day or night, either via a pre-set work schedule or on demand via the handy Stiga app, you can literally be anywhere in the world and your grass is still being maintained without any effort from you. The clever on board weather sensors measure precipitation and grass growth, if it’s too wet to mow or the during a heat wave the grass has stopped growing, the Autoclip can respond independently and dock itself back home until the following day.
The superior lithium ion batteries installed into the Autoclip range enables these models to cover vast areas without the need to be running every hour of the day. Take the popular Stiga 530SG, this machine mows for up to three and half hours on a single charge, once it needs to recharge it takes itself back to the docking station, charges for two hours and then goes out for up to a further three and half hours. If the Autoclip did this each day, it ensures the garden is free to be enjoyed for the remaining fifteen hours and as it’s so quiet and completely automatic the Autoclip can be working while you’re sleeping, but rather impressively and partly due to its on board GPS assistance, it would be capable of maintaining an area of 3200m2.
introduction of their largest model which is capable of maintaining 5000m2 of lawn. As more and more manufactures come to the market with their robotic offerings, and additional features being added year on year, combined with the busyness of general life unlikely to slow down, surely robotics are here to stay, one day in the not too distance future the UK could be emulating Sweden and robotic mowers will be the go to product for looking after our lawns.
The future of robotics Stiga is doubling its UK robotic line up in time for spring 2019, with the Turf Matters | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2018 | 15